NEWSLETTER
It’s August, and Jon Gruden has his hands full with one of the Raiders’ biggest stars.
Wide receiver Antonio Brown is reportedly threatening to retire from football if he isn’t allowed to wear his preferred helmet, according to ESPNs Adam Schefter. Yep, that’s a thing. Really. In fact, it’s one that is so serious, Brown attended a two-hour meeting with NFL officials to plead his case to allow him to wear the helmet he wants (rather than the one approved by the league and the NFLPA). And it’s not as if something is inherently wrong with the helmet. The helmet is an approved model and acceptable to wear. It’s just that it is too old and the grace period to allow those helmets to be worn has passed, per Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio.
The Raiders traded for Brown and gave him more than $30 million in guaranteed money during what was a tumultuous offseason for the talented pass-catcher. It started with Brown not showing up for the Steelers’ regular-season finale, dragging the organization publicly, and a refusal to play on the mega-deal that had three years left on it. Then it grew as Brown nixed a deal that would have sent him to the Bills before ultimately landing in Oakland with new guaranteed money in a new town. The Raiders looked like bandits for a minute, but this situation is flat out nuts.
Perhaps it’s a case of cold feet?
Brown had a foot issue that has kept him off the practice field, which was originally reported as a day-to-day injury. But it has since been reported that Brown burned his feet during a cryotherapy session because he did not wear proper footwear and caused his feet to become frost-bitten. C’mon, man! The producers of Hard Knocks could not have scripted this any better if given full freedom and jurisdiction to do whatever they please.
Excuse me, what?
AB's caption on his latest IG post 👀🚶♂️
(🏈 @brgridiron) pic.twitter.com/Qj2mjakGkc
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) August 9, 2019
The Bears play the Raiders in Week 5, which is one of the reasons why we will continue to keep tabs on what is happening with Brown and the Raiders. But also, because the situation is so gobsmackingly ridiculous, it deserves its own post. Only the Raiders!
