Antonio Brown likes to say his name and brand is ’Boomin’. As of late, he is correct. His name has been all over tv screens, internet articles, blog sites, has talked about in barbershops and has been all over social media. The problem is though, it has been ’boomin’ for all the wrong reasons.
Lately, Brown has outdone himself in self-sabotaging his playing career. For quite some time, he has exhibited behaviors that would make any reasonable person wonder if he is a 12-year-old adolescent stuck in a 31-year- old perennial all-pro WR’s body.
This latest revolution around ‘Antonio’s world’ started when the Oakland Raiders (whom he forced a trade to in March after a nasty break-up with the Pittsburgh Steelers) began their training camp and ’AB’ wasn’t present on the field. It was later revealed that he had frostbite on his feet from not wearing the proper footwear while in a cryotherapy chamber.
The next episode occurred when he refused to practice because the NFL banned the helmet he had worn for the previous nine seasons. Brown threatened to retire over the matter and even left the team in the midst of camp. Once that issue was resolved (and he secured a new helmet endorsement), he posted a copy of the letter on his Instagram detailing how had been fined for missing practices, team meetings and conduct detrimental to the team. He and Raiders GM Mike Mayock had a huge verbal altercation, the team voided his contract and AB demanded to be released via Instagram because as he put it "there’s no way I play after they took that (his guaranteed money) away and made my contract week to week." Later that same day, Brown’s wish was granted as he was released by Oakland before ever appearing in a game for the Raiders. He earned $0 of the $54 million contract he signed. Of that total contract value, $30 million was guaranteed.
Roughly 5 hours later, the New England Patriots announced that they would sign AB. Things appeared to be balancing out for Brown but the peace wouldn’t last long as his professional and personal life began to unravel even more. The day after he signed with the Patriots ($15 million total - including a $9 million signing bonus) he was sued for sexual assault by a former trainer (the statue of limitations had run out to pursue any criminal charges). Amid this news, the Patriots decided to stick with Brown, provided he could focus on football and not have any contact with his accuser(s). After his first game, Sports Illustrated’s website published a story where another woman accused him of sexual misconduct and filed a seperate lawsuit. Once the story broke, Brown broke the one cardinal rule New England gave him: he contacted the second accuser in a group message that also included his attorney and two people within his inner-circle. In the messages, he attempted to intimidate the woman and instructed his associates to look into her background. Once New England got wind of this incident, they released him. Brown appeared in one game and earned a little bit over $158,000 as a member of the Patriots.
For those keeping score, in the past 2 months, Brown has been released by 2 NFL teams, accused of sexual misconduct and sued by 2 different women, lost 2 major endorsement deals, and lost out on the potential of earning a total of $39 million guaranteed.
In the wake of all of the recent developments, Brown has taken to Twitter to announce that he is done playing in the NFL and is re-enrolling at Central Michigan University to finish school and earn his degree. He explained his main reason from walking away from football is the fact team owners and front office executives can void and not pay up on guaranteed portions of contracts. While he has long maintained that he doesn’t need football, it is hard to imagine a player of his caliber still in his physical prime just walking away from the game and staying gone.
Over the course of his 9 year career, AB has totaled 842 receptions (currently 28th all-time), 11,263 total yards (34th all-time) and has hauled in 75 touchdown catches (34th all-time). He has been named a first team All-Pro 4 times, has made 8 Pro-Bowl teams, and has led the league in receptions on two seperate occasions. These are numbers and accolades that definitely put AB on a Hall of Fame trajectory. Many would argue that what he has done up to this point already deserves a spot in Canton, OH amongst the other immortals of the sport.
While it seems right now that no one wants him, the NFL has constantly proven that no matter what is going on in your personal life that one of their teams will employ you as long as you can still play at a high level. Past examples of this notion can be found in the cases of Ben Roethlisberger, Greg Hardy, Richie Incognito, Donte Stallworth and Michael Vick to name a few.
The main problem with Brown finding a landing spot anywhere in the near future is the fact that he is viewed as an extremely selfish player that only cares about himself, his personal stats and is considered cancerous to any locker room he sets foot into. There have been several occasions where he has thrown teammates under the bus, gone against team rules in order to further his personal brand, and has generally not cared about collateral damage he causes as long as he gets his way.
A number of former players (Shannon Sharpe and Michael Vick to name a few) have publicly called him out for his destructive behavior. Former teammate Ryan Clark detailed how he saw the warning signs of AB’s behavior long before the general public became aware and even went as far as to say that Brown was just "not a good human being."
Simply put, Antonio Brown is seen as a toxic person that no team in the NFL wants to deal with at this point. He is the equivalent of a nuclear wasteland that no one wants to go near because they fear they’ll be contaminated.
If Brown wants to play in the NFL again, he needs to take a really long look within himself, do some serious soul searching and adopt more of a team friendly personality. He is already projected to be a first ballot Hall of Famer when he becomes eligible. It would be a shame for him to have to wait several years, similar to Terrell Owens’ ordeal, before eventually being enshrined.
The question is, does AB want to be as successful for himself as the people and fans around him want him to be? As long as his attitude doesn’t change, AB will never ride 20 inch chrome.
Bonus content:
Even though Brown has worn out his welcome in 3 NFL locker rooms, there are a few teams that may decide to take a chance on him before the season is done. The Miami Dolphins seem to be a logical destination seeing as though it is Brown’s hometown and the team needs some type of way to get fans in South Florida to attend games and drum up interest in the team.
Another team that could sign brown at some point are the Detroit Lions. The Lions have a very talented QB in Matt Stafford and a pretty decent offense around him, but there is no ’alpha’ type WR on their roster that is as talented or accomplished as Brown is. He would instantly make them better and a playoff contender. The Lions are also coached by Matt Patricia, a former New England assistant who comes from the Bill Belicheck coaching tree. It is feasible to think Patricia can do with Brown what the Patriots couldn’t.
Two other teams that come to mind are the Denver Broncos and Tennessee Titans as good on the field fits. In Denver, he would be reunited with former Steeler teammate Emmanuel Sanders. They both seemed to flourish together while in Pittsburgh and can duplicate that success in the Mile High City with veteran QB Joe Flacco (who needs as much help as he can get). Tennessee makes sense for all the same reasons Detroit does. Solid team ready to make a playoff push, but lack a truly dominant receiver that always commands attention and can take the focus off the run. The Titans are coached by Mike Vrabel, a former Patriot who played under, you guessed it, Bill Belicheck.
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