There are a number of times throughout the year, both during the period in which games are played and during the offseason, in which fans complain about a lack of straightforward and forthright answers from coaches and players.
Then there are times when they get those honest answers and some complain that they are giving secrets away. For those fans, you will be happy to know that, as much as he might share of his routines on social media, Antonio Brown has no interest in giving away his own trade secrets that have helped him become the best wide receiver in the game.
This probably isn’t news if you’ve watched a lot of his interviews lately. There are certain questions that he gets to which is response is “can’t tell you”, or “top secret”.
“I tell you”, he said, “then you guys report it and every guy will be caught up with it”, according to Jeremy Fowler. “I’ve got to keep some things top secret. Hopefully you guys can catch on to it 10 years from now”.
Hopefully Brown is still doing his thing 10 years from now. After all, he’s not even 30 yet…just saying.
While he has talked in the past about working out with the Giants’ Odell Beckham, Jr.—currently on injured reserve—and mutually sharing secrets, that is of course a rare circumstance in which both players, at the same position, are able to benefit from a true peer.
As has frequently been the case over the course of the past few seasons, the former sixth-round draft pick—it never hurts to remind readers of that fact—once again finds himself at the top of or near the top of all statistics for wide receivers.
Through six games, Brown has caught 48 passes for 700 yards—the most he has had through six games in his career—with two touchdowns, averaging 14.6 yards per reception, the latter statistic being his most efficient output per reception since he entered the starting lineup full-time in 2012, by a full yard.
From 2013 through 2016, Brown caught 481 passes for 6315 yards and 43 touchdowns, averaging 120.25 receptions, 1578.75 yards, and 10.75 touchdowns per season. And that includes a ‘down’ year in 2016 with 106 receptions for 1284 yards and 12 touchdowns, recording those numbers in 15 games.
At his current pace this season, Brown would finish out the year with 128 receptions 1867 yards and five touchdowns. While you would expect the touchdowns to increase as the season goes on, the yardage would represent a career-high, though the receptions would be just the third-most of his career.
With the ability to put up those sorts of numbers, it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that he would want to keep the secrets of his trade to himself. Maybe when he retires he can talk about how he has been able to create such separation over the years.
