Antonio Brown will play for the Raiders this year.
He isn’t going to throw away tens of millions of dollars over a helmet and everyone knows how Brown feels about catching Jerry Rice in the NFL record book.
From the team perspective, the Raiders have made efforts to downplay the reports on Brown. They believe Brown will return soon and even though no one should want to put anything past AB, at least one prominent figure in the building doesn’t believe retirement was, or is, on the table.
With that said, Brown is unquestionably upset and Michael Gehlken of the Las Vegas Review-Journal indicated on Friday that Brown hasn’t been in Napa with the team for around a week. Brown even went on Instagram Friday and instead of shooting down rumors, injected more life into the stories.
As far as HBO’s Hard Knocks is concerned, they are finally getting what they bargained for out of the Raiders.
One theory (and it’s good one) is that while Brown is no doubt upset about the helmet situation, it was the opportunity to have HBO chronicle his struggle with the league over the matter that pushed the All-Pro receiver to where we are now.
AB loves the spotlight and if HBO wanted, they could easily feature Brown’s helmet saga for a full hour.
Guess we’ll find around 10 PM on Tuesday when the next Hard Knocks episode is scheduled to air.
How much do you want to bet the network sees a nice boost in ratings for the show’s second episode?
And on a final note. It’s probably worth noting that it’s not like Brown has committed a crime with his most recent antics. He isn’t facing league discipline and when the dust settles, AB will surely be back to doing what he does best…
The Bishop on Twitter
What has Antonio Brown done that makes y’all label him with such nonsense? Arrested? No. Raped anyone? No. Sexually assaulted anyone? No. Failed a drug test? No. PEDs? No. Hit a woman? No. Abuse his kids? No…… So what has he done? Other than have 11,000 yards in 9 seasons.
twitter: @raidersbeat
