"Look, mom, the circus is in town!"
Who is running the Oakland Raiders?
Football is a sport where teamwork, selflessness, sacrifice and respect are held up as non-negotiable behaviors.
Coaches introduce these core tenants at a young player’s first practice and continue to preach through high school, college and professional football.
Teams carry 53 men on a roster, and unlike sports like basketball where one player can dominate a game, NFL teams routinely use 40 team members during the course of a game.
These values matter to the Pittsburgh Steelers, the NFL’s most successful franchise of the past fifty years.
The Steelers will play the 2019 season with only 1/6 of their payroll. The Steelers are spending $21.12 million on Antonio Brown. They are happy to pay this price to rebuild a talented, but poisoned team that underperformed the past several years.
After signing a contract valued over $50 million, Brown has relentlessly worked to make the Steelers look brilliant. The Raiders, and specifically Jon Gruden, appear more inept with every passing day.
Before playing one game, Brown’s resume of clown behavior is impressive. He missed most of training camp due to frostbitten feet, battled publicly with the NFL over his helmet, was fined more than $50,000 for missing practices and recently threatened to punch Raiders general manager Mike Mayock in a “screaming match.”
He’s done all this, while boasting about his selfish behavior and outright mocking Raiders brass on social media. After emasculating Gruden’s hand-picked general manager in front of his teammates, most expected Antonio Brown would receive a suspension.
This is before Brown’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, reminded Brown that he had yet to receive his $30 million signing bonus, and his behavior was a clear breach of his contract.
Rosenhaus took to the media to spin the situation, "Listen, the NFL is a workplace. And in workplace environments, not everything is perfect. Antonio is a new player on this football team and we're trying to make it a very good relationship across the board. But what is very common in a new relationship is you try to get things in a good place. And it takes time."
No, the NFL is not a workplace environment. How many reading this could threaten their manager with violence, taunt their organization on social media and then expect leniency? I recommended here that the Raiders cut ties with AB completely.
Rosenhaus did his job and got Antonio to bring out the tears.
Any parent who has threatened to punish a young child understands this apology was contrived, and disingenuous. Brown realized that his $30 million was at risk, and said what he needed to say.
Jon Gruden is an incredibly smart person. He didn’t buy Brown’s remorse, nor did he care. He needed Brown to apologize to save face. All Gruden has ever cared about is what Brown can do on a football field.
End of story. Let’s see how the Raiders play on Monday night, right? Wrong.
Less than 24 hours later, Brown released a highly produced video on Youtube with audio of a personal phone call with Gruden.
This video is consistent with who Brown is as a person. The production is carefully crafted to protect his image, even at the expense of an unsuspecting coach who had no idea he was being recorded.
Brown had this video planned before he offered a false apology to the team. The video is part hype video and partly a response to his legion of haters. The description under the video continues with the “me, me, me” narrative:
With all these false narratives antagonizing me, it’s time for me to control my own narrative. Show the world I’m not the bad guy. Show the world you can free yourself from the lies and become your own person. I am not just AB the football player, I am Antonio Brown, the person, who paved a way for himself to be in charge of his own life. Free me!
Gruden responded to the video in typical fashion:
If illegally recording a call and turning it into a hype video didn’t bother Gruden, we’ll see how the Raiders respond to the Instagram post that followed on Saturday morning.
In the comments in this post, Brown goes into more detail:
I have worked my whole life to prove that the system is blind to see talent like mines.Now that everyone sees it, they want me to conform to that same system that has failed me all those years. “I’m not mad at anyone. I’m just asking for the freedom to prove them all wrong.” Release me @raiders #NOMore #theyputblindersonahorseforareason#NoMoreFake
At this point, would anyone be surprised if ESPN reported that Brown spray-painted #84 on Gruden’s sports car? Gruden would probably laugh it off and respond with, “AB is one heck of a receiver and I’m jacked to see him play, man!”
ESPN’s Adam Schefter is reporting that Brown’s Instagram post is in response to the Raiders attempting to lay down the law. Per Schefter, the Raiders levied an additional fine of $215,073.50 for his outburst against Mike Mayock.
In addition, the Raiders notified Brown that he is now being paid on a week-to-week basis and will no longer receive his $21 million in guaranteed money. For conduct detrimental to the team, Brown’s contract with the Raiders is no longer valid.
As he made clear in his Instagram post, Brown has no intention of playing on a week-to-week basis.
This is ending the only way it could.
The Raiders had every indication that Brown would operate this way. His behavior is remarkably consistent with his behavior in Pittsburgh.
Jon Gruden chose to lead his organization like a fantasy football owner, caring only about what Brown could do on the field and ignoring the damage he might do in the locker room.
I would have no problem starting Antonio Brown on my fantasy team. I don’t care if the Raiders win or not. I don’t care if Derek Carr has a great game. I don’t care if the other Raider receivers play well. I only care if Brown scores touchdowns, even if they lose by 21.
But, I am not running the Oakland Raiders.
The Oakland Raiders are valued at $3 billion and have been in business for decades. Jon Gruden chose to run the organization like a Pop Warner coach who desperately wants to win one last city championship, and not someone trusted with one of the world’s most valuable sports brands.
This circus is not Antonio Brown’s fault. The blame falls on Jon Gruden for wearing blinders, and ignoring the negative effects of letting one bad apple ruin the bunch.
Time will tell if another NFL team takes the same bait.
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