Antonio Brown is one of the most interesting players in recent NFL history. For most of his time with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Brown was arguably the best wide receiver in the league. However, his personality and behavior off the field were a problem. That wasn’t as evident with the Steelers, but once Brown left Pittsburgh, he imploded. His time with the Oakland Raiders in 2019 was a testament to that. Marked by several different controversies, it was a disaster. Former Raiders running back Josh Jacobs recently detailed his feelings on that saga.
“Do I think that he was wrong?” Jacobs said Tuesday on the podcast Bussin’ with the Boys. “No. I think the way he went about it was wrong, but the feeling that he had, he wasn’t wrong. It’s kind of hard to explain unless I really get into it. What I mean is, why he was upset, and the things that he was upset about, he was 100% right to be upset about. But how he handled it, I think, was 100% wrong.”
In March 2019, the Steelers traded Brown to the Raiders. However, he never actually played for Oakland. They released him before the season began because of how big of a problem he had become. That was also Jacobs’ rookie year, so he got a front-row seat to all the drama.
Brown had several issues during his time with the Raiders. One was that the NFL banned the helmet that he wore, which sent Brown into an uproar and caused him to not practice with the team. Another was that his feet suffered serious damage in a cryotherapy machine. Maybe the biggest blowup came when Brown and Mike Mayock, the team’s general manager at the time, got into a very heated argument.
Jacobs doesn’t blame Brown for being upset, only for not handling the situation as well as he could have. He goes into more detail about Brown’s actual issue with the team.
“Really, what it came down to was they threatened to take his money. He was arguing to keep his money. So, I was like, ‘I understand what you’re saying.'”
Due to his behavior, the Raiders fined Brown several times and voided the guaranteed money in his contract. It’s easy to understand why he would be upset about that. However, he could’ve behaved differently in that situation, and maybe he and the Raiders could’ve come to an understanding.
Brown was an unbelievable talent, and he was the Raiders’ biggest acquisition that offseason. They probably wanted that relationship to work out far better than it did. Before that year, Brown’s talents were almost unmatched.
Jacobs told a story explaining just how unique Brown was, although it also speaks to how much of a diva he was.
“The craziest thing about AB, he would be the guy in the meetings that would be on his phone the whole time. And everybody knows he’s on his phone, and ain’t nobody gonna say nothing. But he’d go out and practice and never fuck up a play. I swear. He was just different.”
For all his faults, Brown was an incredibly hard worker. It wasn’t hard to find him putting in extra work after practices ended. That’s why he was one of the best receivers in the league. Most sixth-round draft picks don’t have careers like Brown’s. However, he worked tirelessly to become one of the best.
Unfortunately, Brown’s legacy isn’t what it should be. Rather than a success story, Brown almost serves as a cautionary tale. Jacobs tried to provide a little insight into what he thinks contributed to Brown’s career going south.
“I think that the people he had around him, I don’t know if the people still around him, but he had too many guys that were just willing to tell him whatever he wanted to hear.”
Brown played for a few more years after leaving the Raiders, even winning a Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. However, he was never the same player that he was in Pittsburgh. Looking back, his time in Oakland might’ve been the beginning of the end for Brown.
