The Antonio Brown Spectacle Continues

The Antonio Brown drama is something that never seems to end. At first, most people thought that his problems with his helmet, his frostbitten foot, and so on, were all part of HBO’s Hard Knocks. After those issues were rarely shown or discussed on the show, it became clear that everything going on with Antonio Brown was not in fact just an act.

Yesterday, Antonio Brown posted a letter from GM Mike Mayock on Instagram. It was a letter fining him for missing mandatory walkthroughs. On top of posting a private business letter, Brown wrote a few lines that were seemingly to put down his new team, the Oakland Raiders.

Today, reports are coming out from ESPN’s Adam Schefter, that Mike Mayock and Antonio Brown have gotten into an argument regarding the Instagram post, along with Brown’s behavior during training camp and preseason. The Raiders are expecting to suspend Antonio Brown. At this current time, there is no word on how long he would be suspended. That is not what is important, though.

If the Raiders were to suspend him, it would seemingly void his guaranteed contract. The $30,000,000 that he was guaranteed would be gone. If they were to suspend him, they could release him and owe him nothing. As long as he is not on the opening day roster on Sunday, he is not guaranteed that money. The idea of this suspension is to try and undo the mistake the Raiders made. The mistake being of course, trading for Antonio Brown in the first place.

Oakland didn’t have to do much to search for a reason to suspend Antonio Brown. There were certainly discussions between Jon Gruden and Mike Mayock about how they can get out of the circus that is Antonio Brown. The Raiders thought they were trading for a star wide receiver who just needed a new start because their old team was getting stale. It turns out they were wrong. Mike Tomlin and the entire Pittsburgh Steelers organization deserve even more credit for how they’ve been able to handle Antonio Brown all these years.

After Brown breached his contact by not showing up for mandatory walkthroughs, it gave Mayock and Gruden an easy out to suspend Antonio Brown. But they didn’t do that. They gave him another chance. So instead, they fined him for it rather than suspending him. At this time, they were still all-in on Antonio Brown. Then the Instagram story happens and Mayock loses his patience. That’s when Mayock and Brown got into a screaming match.

So now the question is: where will Antonio Brown end up? The question that was asked months ago when he demanded his way out of Pittsburgh. Now, we are more than likely here again. Suspending AB would mean the Raiders would release him and admit they made a mistake.

Regardless, it will take some time for Antonio Brown to learn a new system if in fact he is suspended and cut.

This story certainly isn’t over. Even if he stays with the Raiders, it will be a rollercoaster season for every person involved in the Raider organization. As for the fans of the NFL, it will be the sports version of watching the Kardashians for 17 weeks.