After a rocky start to training camp for Oakland Raiders new acquisition Antonio Brown, things started to be looking up in recent days.
Brown missed most of the first few weeks due to frostbite in his feet and also a helmet issue with the league as the helmet he has worn for his entire nine-year NFL career is no longer certified.
His feet have since healed though and he returned to the team last week, catching passes from Derek Carr before the Raiders’ second preseason game against the Arizona Cardinals and then returning to the practice field a couple of days later.
Brown also filed a grievance against the league to be able to use his helmet, although that was denied. Regardless though, after finding a new helmet, it looked as if that issue was also behind him and he could begin to focus on getting ready for Week 1 of the regular season.
It appears that the new helmet Brown started using is also not certified though. So Brown again missed practice on Sunday to continue to deal with that issue. Raiders general manager Mike Mayock expressed his frustration after practice and issued the following statement, per Myles Simmons of the Las Vegas Review-Journal:
#Raiders GM Mike Mayock’s full statement: pic.twitter.com/XM2MssLEbC
— Myles Simmons (@MylesASimmons) August 18, 2019
This is obviously not good news for the Raiders as Brown has created a number of distractions for the team since training camp began. There still is plenty of time to get everything sorted out though, so it is not the time for panic just yet.
It was originally reported that Brown was threatening to retire if he could not use his preferred helmet, although he denied that when he returned to the practice field.
Hopefully, this all gets sorted out soon and it will be something that everyone can look back and laugh on after Brown has another Pro Bowl season in 2019.
