Antonio Brown directs latest apology at Ben Roethlisberger

Antonio Brown's apology tour continued Wednesday morning with an Instagram post directed at quarterback  Ben Roethlisberger.

The former Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver posted a photo of Roethlisberger smiling and slapping the back of Brown's helmet when the two played together, along with a caption that praised Roethlisberger.

"Mostly you a little bit of me !" Brown wrote. "Yee yee !! I never realized how good I had it, got caught up in my emotion with everyone coming after me I really apologize for my actions sincerely man ! It's never been another connection like what we done in the past decade. I appreciate you. Sincerely AB."

The apology and gratitude from Brown is a significant change in tone from previous social media posts directed at Roethlisberger. The pair's relationship deteriorated throughout Brown's final season with the Steelers in 2018.

Roethlisberger called Brown out on his weekly radio show following a loss to the Denver Broncos for running a bad route. After the season, Brown said Roethlisberger had an "owner mentality" in a February 2019 tweet responding to a fan asking what caused the conflict between them.

"No conflict just a matter of respect! Mutual respect! He has a owner mentality like he can call out anybody including coaches," Brown wrote. "Players know but they can't say anything about it otherwise they meal ticket gone. It's a dirty game within a game."

In August, Brown sent another tweet telling Roethlisberger to "shut up already," after the quarterback said in an interview he regretted calling Brown out for the poor route and that it ruined a friendship.

In the past, Brown referred to Roethlisberger as his best friend on the team, a relationship that clearly changed in the wide receiver's final years with the Steelers.

Brown has publicly apologized to the Steelers, the NFL and the Hollywood (Fla.) Police Department since his January arrest for allegedly attacking a delivery truck driver. He sat down with ESPN's Josina Anderson just before the Super Bowl to express remorse for some of the things he had done on and off the field in the past year.

"I think I owe the whole NFL an apology and my past behavior," Brown told Anderson. "I think I could have done a lot of things better."

In addition to the arrest, Brown also unleashed an explicit tirade at the Hollywood Police when they responded to a separate domestic disturbance at his house in January.

Brown -- who played in only one regular-season game in 2019, with the New England Patriots -- is being investigated by the NFL over accusations of sexual misconduct that were made by two women.

"I feel like I never really got in a conflict with no woman," Brown told Anderson. "I just feel like I'm a target so anybody can come against me and say anything [that] I have to face. There's no support, there's no egos, there's no rules in it, anyone can come after me for anything. No proof or whatever. 'He said, she's saying.'

"The media will run with it, so even if I'm not guilty, I already guilty because they already wrote it, put it on TV and put that in people minds. So for me to have to sit here and hear those the allegations of me is just unfair to me every time."