Most of training camp for the Oakland Raiders has been the Antonio Brown show as he has been in and out of camp due to both feet and helmet issues, causing plenty of commotion in the media.
It appears that one of those issues is now in the rearview as Brown’s feet are getting closer to 100 percent each day and he has been able to return to the practice field, but his helmet situation has still not been figured out, causing him to be away from the team once again over the weekend.
Brown has been wearing the same helmet his entire career, although that is no longer certified. His original grievance to wear it was denied, but it was reported after that if he found a helmet of the same model made in the last 10 years then he would be able to wear it.
So that is exactly what Brown did, leading him to believe that the situation was taken care of. It appears that helmet did not get certified either though, so Brown has filed a second grievance against the NFL, per Adam Schefter of ESPN:
Oakland Raiders wide receiver Antonio Brown has filed a new grievance against the NFL over his not having a full calendar year grace period to find a helmet that works for him, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
A number of players, including New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, dealt with this similar issue last year and were given a one-year grace period that allowed them to wear helmets that were recently banned. The NFL and NFL Players Association eliminated the grace period after last season, but Brown is hoping they will allow him one final season in his preferred helmet:
Brown believed last week that he had found a suitable replacement — a helmet manufactured within the past 10 years — but it did not meet additional testing parameters. Because the replacement helmet had just been banned, Brown believes he is owed the same grace period that other players were given last season, when their helmets were tested and banned, a source told Schefter.
Understandably fed up with the situation, Raiders general manager Mike Mayock recently gave Brown an ultimatum to be ‘all in or all out’ with the organization that traded for him, and Brown responded by returning to camp the following day.
While there is obvious concern about the Raiders star wide receiver missing valuable practice time, there is no indication that he will miss any regular-season time, so until that happens, there is no reason for Raider Nation to panic as there is still optimism that the situation will get figured out in the near future.
