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Jack Kelley

9/10/19

What is going on with Antonio Brown?

    For the last nine NFL seasons, Antonio Brown has been a star wide receiver. He has racked up yards, touchdowns, catches, and pro-bowl selections at a rate that not many do. This past offseason Brown was traded to the Oakland Raiders from his original team, the Pittsburgh Steelers. So what has all the fuss about Brown been about? 

    Antonio Brown has just been cut by the Oakland Raiders, and signed by the New England Patriots for a one year, fifteen million dollar deal which has ten million of that guaranteed. His stint with the Oakland Raiders was very short and very drama filled. When he first was traded to the Raiders from the Steelers everything appeared to be good and Antonio was happy in Oakland. This trade from Pittsburgh to Oakland was a demanded trade because Brown was not happy with Pittsburgh quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger. It wasn’t until the NFL told him during the preseason that his helmet was illegal that caused all of the drama to start. 

    Every ten years the NFL eliminates helmets from their safety protocol that lists the helmets players can and cannot wear due to safety reasons. Brown’s helmet was one of the helmets that was cut off due to the lack of safety and technology used in his helmet. Infuriated by the decision, Brown stopped playing football and threatened to retire from the NFL at such a young age, all because of a helmet. During the season Antonio finally found a helmet that he could see out of and decided to stick with it and start actually playing football. 

    After the helmet controversy was over, the organization was just hoping they could get their star player out of the field. Instead, Antonio skipped a team practice for no known reason. Skipping practice went against the team rules, like most other teams no matter what kind of level. Brown was fined by the Raiders organization for missing practice and was infuriated. He took to Instagram and posted on his story a picture of the fines the Raider’s were sending him. Antonio accepted the fine and everything around him remained quiet for a while until his next outburst. 

    Two days before the Riader’s first regular season game, Antonio got “into it” with Raider’s General Manager Mike Mayock. This confrontation was told to be very personal and at one point Brown threatened to hit Mayock “in the face”, a source within the organization said. This argument is believed to be over the fine he received from skipping practice because it ended with Antonio kicking a football and yelling, “fine me for that!” at the general manager. Because of Antonio’s actions, he was suspended for the first regular season game. Less than 24 hours after the suspension, Raiders head coach John Gruden made a statement saying his suspension is removed because he held a very emotional team meeting in which he apologized to everyone. This made Brown available for week 1.

    Another twist came the next morning when Brown posted a picture on Instagram that said “You are gonna piss a lot of people off when you start doing what’s best for you”, and then ended the caption by saying, “release me. @Raiders”. This followed up with another suspension and the Raiders took away Brown’s 30 million guaranteed dollars, making it that Brown would only get paid if he played that week. Later that day the Raiders finally released Brown, making him a free agent. 

    That very next day, brown was picked up by the New England Patriots. Finally, after all of the drama it seems that Antonio has found a place that he wants to play at. Antonio could not play week 1 against his former Pittsburgh team because he was picked up so late, but look for him to have another great season with the Patriots.