Raiders Release WR Antonio Brown
5 months is all it took. For some within the city of Pittsburgh They already knew what the Oakland Raiders had signed up for. I told others all of the time that the Steelers organization is a first class organization. Not just in the NFL world but in all of sports and very rare that you get a player that leaves and then talks bad about them. How do you play for two teams in a 5 month span and you don’t even play in a meaningful game? Here is how you do that.
Let’s go back a few years where Brown had these same types of episodes with the Steelers which ultimately led to him being traded from the Steelers.
2017 where he was fined 10k by the Steelers for filming the locker room celebration
Going live inside of the locker room after a game while Head coach Mike Tomlin was talking to the team
Late into the 2018 season with the Steelers. Brown became an issue when he was upset at QB Ben Roethlisberger for not getting as many passes and also for Ben calling him out after a game. Steelers then benched him for the week 17 game against the Bengals.
There had been some around the Steelers locker room that stated that this is nothing new for Brown. Just some of the incidents with the Steelers and at the time. We can also chronicle the timeline of issues he has caused himself during his cup of coffee stint in Oakland after being traded away from the Steelers in March.
In May he filed a grievance against the NFL after being upset that he couldn’t wear his helmet that was deemed unsafe by the NFL. His grievance was denied. He then threatened to retire from the NFL if he couldn’t wear his helmet. This caused him to have clashes with the coaches at practice leading him to walk out of practice.
Heading into training camp everyone thought the helmet issue was behind them. That’s what they thought. Brown then kept pressing on the issue about his helmet. But that wasn’t all we later find out that he was placed on the non-injury football list. After many question, it was then revealed that his injury was suffered due to him not properly wearing the proper shoes while he was in the Cryo-Chamber causing him to have frostbite on his feet.
The saga never stopped more and more reports about brown not being happy in Oakland and threatening to never play a single down for the raider because of his helmet. He takes to Instagram to post picture and videos of things that should be private between him and the Oakland raiders. Private conversations with Coach Gruden also a picture of the letter he received from the Raiders about him being fined. Then there is the shouting match that happened between him and GM Mike Mayock. It has been reported that he jumped in his face and said “I would punch you in the face”. A day later he supposedly gave a heartfelt apology to the team where it was said that he got very “Emotional”. Then Head Coach Jon Gruden coming out and saying “AB will play on Monday night”. This coming after reports of he may be facing a suspension. The next day after the Raiders fined him and then took away all his guaranteed money probably due to a violation of discipline clauses in in contract. He’s was released Saturday morning. Crazy!
This is my ending opinion on this whole situation with Antonio Brown. The Steelers I feel like in this situation should get so much credit for the way they handled the Antonio Brown situation because we all can see now that Brown created this mess. And he was not mature enough to clean it up. I do not know who are on his PR team but either they are a bunch of yes men. Or, he’s not willing to listen to them. Reports are that the Oakland raiders have not paid him one single dime since he’s gotten there. Which to me is crazy but it may very well be the case due to the fines that has been levied out to him because of his actions in Oakland. Also I want to give props to the Raiders for not giving in. They knew this guy would be a distraction and after the face to face confrontation with Mayock. There was no way he could remain with the team. At some point even if they are a great player you can’t keep that toxic person in the locker room. Maybe this could serve as an example to anyone else who wants to follow AB footsteps. We are talking a major player here. Top 3 wr in all of football and the circus isn’t worth your production on the field.
As soon as I finished writing this I then see that Antonio Browns has signed a 1yr 15mil contract with 10mil of it in guaranteed money. Go figure. Only in the NFL!