The Antonio Brown experiment is on life support and the season hasn’t even started. At a time when Jon Gruden should be preparing for the Broncos, a large part of his weekend will be dedicated to handling Brown’s most recent meltdown.
After reportedly threatening general manager Mike Mayock and apparently trying to attack him, Brown’s status with the Raiders is questionable, at best.
So let’s try to make sense out of a senseless situation.
Right now, the Raiders are carefully mapping their next move.
At this point, a decision from the Raiders on Brown comes down to a lot more than whether or not he’ll play on Monday.
The last thing Raiders owner Mark Davis will want to do is flush $30 million guaranteed down the toilet in exchange for a terrible headache. At this point, the team almost has no choice but to go after the guaranteed money in Brown’s contract.
One way or another the Raiders have to protect themselves. $30 million is too much of an investment to just sit back and hope everything ends well.
There will be lawyers.
Does Brown want to play for the Raiders?
If you read into the words of Drew Rosenhaus (his agent), there’s no question that Brown isn’t “all in” at the moment.
This was Rosenhaus on Sunday night on whether or not AB wants to play for the Raiders:
“I believe he does. I can’t speak for him, but in my conversations with him, he’s willing to honor his contract and play for the Raiders.”
You believe he does? You can’t speak for him?
When a player is signed for $50 million and his agent can’t speak for him on what team he’d like to play for, that’s not a good sign.
AB also made adjustments to who he is following on social media on Thursday afternoon. He’ll have even more time to get that all squared away if he lands on the Raiders suspended list.
Does Brown have a mental health issue?
It would be hard to believe that he doesn’t.
AB hasn’t handled anything well over the past five weeks. The feet, the helmet, the team walkthroughs… he has turned every small problem into a nightmare and everyone is asking the same questions right now.
Amy Trask on Twitter
Guys – yes, AB’s behavior has been inappropriate and unacceptable – and yes, the team has legal rights – but let’s put that aside for a moment – he may be in need of counseling or help – the team can both protect its rights and try to help him – I hope someone looks in on him.
Is AB going to play on Monday night?
One report said don’t “expect” him to play and the other said the Raiders aren’t “planning” to play him.
But let’s wait until someone definitively says one way or another. Rosenhaus says Brown is still in Oakland so let’s see what the team announces tomorrow. You know Gruden (who ultimately makes the call) won’t like the idea of benching a perfectly healthy star wide receiver in a regular season opener against a division rival.
Best guess? He probably won’t play.
Why? Because it would be the best thing for him and Brown doesn’t seem to want to help himself lately.
Honestly, does he even want to play?
twitter: @raidersbeat
