There is no denying Antonio Brown’s talent on the field, but ever since the Oakland Raiders acquired the star wide receiver from the Pittsburgh Steelers, there seemingly has been drama surrounding him.
Brown has been dealing with two separate issues that caused him to miss a large portion of training camp and the preseason.
The first was an injury in his feet as he suffered frostbite in both after a mishap in a cryotherapy chamber. That injury forced Brown to be off the field for a couple of weeks, which is obviously not ideal for someone on a new team.
The other issue was a helmet grievance that Brown filed to the league as the helmet he has been using his entire nine-year NFL career was deemed no longer certified. Brown did everything he could to try and wear his helmet for one more season but it was to no avail, so he will have to choose a new one.
All of these issues not only stirred up a lot of commotion from the media, but as previously mentioned, it forced Brown to be away from his team. With that comes consequences as it appears Raiders general manager Mike Mayock fined Brown for his absence. Brown took to social media on Wednesday morning to express his displeasure with those fines, via Vic Tafur of The Athletic:
Antonio Brown posts his displeasure with fines from #Raiders pic.twitter.com/0OMhdwFu7K
— Vic Tafur (@VicTafur) September 4, 2019
This is obviously not ideal for a Raiders team that is preparing for its Week 1 matchup against the Denver Broncos on Monday night.
The hope was that the training camp drama would not carry into the regular season and there is still time to get that sorted out, although Brown has maintained all along that he is motivated to have a strong season and lead the Raiders back to the postseason.
Brown signed a long-term extension to stay with the Raiders after the trad occurred so it would be in all parties’ best interest to get on the same page to ensure a strong season.
