Most major sports media outlets are exploding with today’s news that Antonio Brown has been suspended by the Raiders for not paying a team-imposed fine and getting into a shouting, almost-physical altercation with Raiders GM Mike Mayock today at practice. Apparently, Brown had to be held back by none other than Vontaze Burfict, who delivered the hit above during a 2016 playoff game. Brown was obviously concussed as a result of the attempted beheading hit.
Since being traded to the Raiders this past offseason after forcing his way out of Pittsburgh, Brown has been a human roller coaster. He ruined the bottoms of his feet by forgetting to wear proper footwear into a cryogenic chamber, then refused to practice because he couldn’t wear the type of helmet he had worn for his entire career. See, the helmet he prefers was banned by the league because it was found to be more likely to cause concussions. This ban affected several players, including Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady. Brown made far and away the biggest stink out of any player affected by the ban.
Where did this diva-ish behavior come from, though? Brown has been an elite receiver for over half a decade now (100+ catches and 1,200+ yards every year since 2013), and until the last year or two has been a pretty quiet guy.
It makes logical sense that after years of being a top-three receiver, Brown got tired of keeping his mouth shut. There have been dozens of diva wide receivers in the NFL through the years (as an Eagles fan, I would like to present the case of one Terrell Owens). But do you know what else makes sense? That Vontaze Burfict hit Brown so hard in the head that he suffered a concussion with serious long-term effects. Brown was wearing a helmet that was found to insufficiently protect him from concussions, after all.
Is this definitive? Absolutely not. I’m just speculating based off of some stuff that I saw on social media. If it is true, there’s no way the NFL will ever acknowledge it (after all, this is the league that vehemently denies that there is any correlation between concussions and CTE). It’s certainly interesting, regardless of how true it is.
ReJoyce 