All of the talk surrounding the Oakland Raiders and perhaps the NFL in recent weeks has been about star wide receiver Antonio Brown.
Brown has caused a lot of drama within the organization due to feet and helmet issues, and then he snapped on general manager Mike Mayock at practice for fining him earlier this week.
All of Brown’s actions forced the Raiders to consider suspending him to begin the season, which would have cost him a significant amount of money. But luckily, cooler heads wound up prevailing.
Brown returned to practice on Friday and apologized to his teammates and head coach Jon Gruden announced that the All-Pro wide receiver will not be suspended and is expected to play in the Raiders’ Week 1 matchup against the Denver Broncos on Monday night.
After practice, Brown spoke to the media and while he did not take any questions, he did issue a statement apologizing to the organization, his teammates and fans, via Vic Tafur of The Athletic:
“I want to apologize to my teammates and the organization. Enough talk, I’m excited to be out here with my teammates. I’m grateful for all of the fans, I’m excited to be part of the Raiders and I’ll see y’all soon.”
It was a bit interesting that Brown did not mention Mayock’s name in his apology, but according to Dianna Russini of ESPN, he spoke to him personally to clear things up:
I just spoke to Antonio Brown about the last 24 hours….
— Dianna (@diannaESPN) September 6, 2019
I asked him how he’s feeling he said he’s better. I asked him if he’s happy? He said yeah, better. As for what happened on the field with Raiders GM Mike Mayock…
— Dianna (@diannaESPN) September 6, 2019
Antonio Brown told me there was never a scuffle at practice. He said he did not use the word “cracker” and would never use that word…Everything has been blown out of proportion”
“I spoke with Mike Mayock 1-on-1, man-to-man.”
#Raiders— Dianna (@diannaESPN) September 6, 2019
It seems like everyone is ready to move on from this drama so the focus can shift back to the field. Raiders quarterback Derek Carr stated that is the case:
Derek Carr said the team captains were up there with Antonio Brown at the team meeting and “we’re excited to move on.”
— Vic Tafur (@VicTafur) September 6, 2019
Raiders offensive coordinator also agreed as he said that he was planning as if Brown would be playing all along:
Offensive coordinator Greg Olson said he was planning on using Brown “all along.”
— Vic Tafur (@VicTafur) September 6, 2019
The easiest way for this to all blow over is for Brown to play well on Monday night and the Raiders begin the season on a high note with a win over the division-rival Broncos. If that doesn’t happen though, then it would not be surprising to see the drama continue into the season.
