Last season's Steelers were about as dysfunctional as a team can get. This isn't news to anyone. LeVeon Bell and Antonio Brown both pouted their way out of town, while blaming all of Pittsburgh's problems on Ben Roethlisberger. That claim, of course, was comically untrue considering who the locker room cancers actually were.
This season, there appears to be harmony in Pittsburgh. And I don't think it's a coincidence that suddenly everybody's getting along with those two gone. After holding out all of last year, LeVeon signed with the Jets during the offseason and seems to be behaving himself so far. As for Brown, he was traded to the Raiders, although I'm betting Oakland is probably wishing they could have a do-over on that trade.
On paper, it seemed like a good fit. Jon Gruden has the type of personality to handle him, and the Raiders needed a big-game receiver. AB definitely qualifies as a big-game receiver, which is the main reason why the Steelers put up with him as long as they did. Plus, the Raiders were featured on Hard Knocks this year, and you would've figured Hard Knocks would've been the perfect platform for someone with such a big personality.
However, as we quickly learned, whoever thought AB on the Raiders would work was sorely mistaken. First he got frostbite (in the middle of June!) by wearing the wrong type of shoes in a cryotheraphy chamber. Then there was that bizarre issue with his helmet, which wasn't approved by the NFL and he couldn't understand why he wasn't allowed to wear it. It went through two appeals before he finally dropped it (it's a player safety issue, AB, you were never gonna win that one). This is all before he ever put on a Raiders jersey, mind you.
All of this meant that AB rarely, if ever practiced, and he didn't play in any preseason games. Still, that's not considered out of the ordinary for a starter, so people didn't read too much into it. Then came the last straw, after which the house of cards came tumbling down very quickly.
Raiders GM Mike Mayock, who had previously said that Brown needed to decide if he was "all in or all out," fined him $54,000 for unexcused absences during training camp ($40,000 was for missed practices, the other $14,000 was for skipping a walk-through before a preseason game). Like the mature adult he is, AB decided to post the letter on Instagram and whine about it as if he was somehow being victimized. Nevertheless, the Raiders expected Brown to play in the season opener against Denver last Monday night.
Then that all changed. Brown confronted Mayock at the team facility and an obscenity-filled shouting match ensued. That led to a $215,000 fine for conduct detrimental to the team, which also led to the voiding of $29 million worth of guaranteed money in his contract. That prompted this reaction: "No way I play after they took that and made my contract week to week." (There was also more whining, blaming the Raiders, and playing the victim on Instagram.)
Shortly thereafter, he was released by the Raiders. He wasn't unemployed for long, though. Before he even had a chance to clean out his locker, he had signed with the Patriots, which happened so quickly (almost too quickly) that it prompted plenty of speculation that there had been some tampering going on.
Here's the really bothersome thing of the entire saga, though. Antonio Brown never wanted to be a Raider. He wanted to be a Patriot. So, after all of the ridiculous drama and selfish behavior, he was rewarded by getting exactly what he wanted all along. What kind of message does that send?
You can bet that the next time a prima donna receiver (or running back or any position really) doesn't want to play for a particular team, they'll do the exact same thing. They'll become such toxic presence that the team has no other choice but to release them, allowing them to become a free agent and choose their own team. And why not? There's nothing preventing them from doing it! In fact, the AB saga may even serve as incentive to act that way.
They seemed to share the same sentiment on all of the pregame shows. You can't reward bad behavior, which is exactly what happened here. And, to make matters even worse, you're giving him a massive amount of attention, too. It's the NFL's 100th season, yet all anybody could talk about in Week 1 was Antonio Brown (which at least gave us a break from Colin Kaepernick).
So what is the solution? That's the difficult part. Maybe it's something that needs to be discussed in the next round of CBA negotiations. At the very least, maybe when a player changes teams the Commissioner should have the ability to enforce a previous team's suspension. And "conduct detrimental to the team" definitely falls under the scope of things the Commissioner has the power to suspend players for.
Regardless, this isn't a very good look for the NFL. And they know it. There are always going to be star players who are difficult, but they're usually just their own team's problem. But, with all his antics during the offseason, followed by his release and far-too-convenient signing with the Patriots, Antonio Brown has become a league problem. And one they'll have to deal with.
As for whether or not AB and New England will work, that remains to be seen. Belichick won't put up with his crap. That's for sure. Or maybe he'll behave himself and give Brady yet another weapon. Either way, the NFL would like all talk about Antonio Brown to focus on what he does on the field. Not the circus he causes off it.
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