Antonio Brown is a talented wide receiver (he was named the best in the NFL) who defied the odds of a rough childhood in urban Miami to go to college and become a standout receiver at Central Michigan. Then onto becoming a 195 overall pick in his draft class by the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Further proving his talent by making 8,210 receiving yards and 50 touchdowns in the years between 2011-2016 and then hitting the 10,000+ mark in yards in 2018. He has undeniable talent on the field and is an asset to any team. But from 2018 and onward, Brown's headline's haven't been all football.
How does someone as successful and talented as that manage to get fired twice and have several court cases made against them in a matter of days? I can't tell you from experience, but he surely can. Whether you're a sports fan or not, we've all seen and heard of Antonio Brown and his recent scandal. Or should I say scandals, as in multiple.
Recently, Brown has been making headlines in the last couple of weeks. But not for any good reasons. Brown was traded by the Pittsburgh Steelers and landed himself a spot on the Oakland Raiders. However, he never played a game with the Raiders before the released him and he was quickly picked up by the New England Patriots.
Sounds great right? No. He was very quickly released by the Patriots in the midst of a sexual assault case that was slammed against him. All within a matter of 11 days.
Head spinning yet? Me too. Let's break it down a little bit.
In early 2019, The Pittsburgh Steelers made the difficult but necessary decision to trade Antonio Brown after ending the 2018 season on a pretty sour note with the team. Brown shared some questionable things about football and the Steelers and then found himself on the Oakland Raiders for the start of football season.
With the Raiders Brown had a $50.13 million contract and another $30.13 million guaranteed. But of course, there wasn't much time that had passed before there was an issue. Brown did not like his Raiders helmet.
He hated it so much he clashed with coaches over it and stormed out of practice to try and use his old helmet on the field. He went as far as too repaint it, which did not go over well in Oakland.
He continued to clash with coaches and was benched due to a strange foot injury. The injury was irrelevant, however, because Brown was throwing another tantrum and threatening not to play when he healed if he couldn't have his old helmet.
Fast forward a few weeks and Brown got into an altercation with his coach, then took to social media to throw yet another tantrum. This one, however, ended with Brown being fired from the Raiders and being scooped up by the New England Patriots in a matter of 24 hours.
However, he didn't get to celebrate long because sexual assault allegations (that he denies) soon hit the front page news. This is still under investigation so you can keep up with that on literally any news outlet.
After the allegations, Brown was released from the Patriots after only 11 days on the team. Of course, he followed this up with more rants on social media, in true Antonio Brown fashion.
I've said all of that to say this; Antonio Brown is an incredibly talented wide receiver. I believe in some way he was meant to play football and play it well. I mean, I had his jerseys and shirts and followed his Instagram proudly while he was still a Pittsburgh Steeler.
I am not discrediting his accomplishments as a football player, by any means. I am, however, shining a light on behavior that Mike Tomlin was incredible at keeping under wraps for several years.
His behavior alone makes you want to ignore his talent completely. He is cutting himself short of what could have been a Hall Of Fame career!
Talent holds no grounds when you are an insufferable person. Name one headline since the start of the season (or the end of last season for that matter) that has anything to do with Antonio Brown's abilities on the field.
There really aren't any. This is a man with children and a wife to support. A man with billions of eyes on his every move. His behavior speaks far beyond his talent. Football is about being a team. Not a drama queen who cheats himself out of millions of dollars and loyal teammates when he acts like a toddler.
I don't care how talented you are, how many touchdowns you've helped to complete, how many yards you can run, whatever. Talent is not nearly enough to make anyone want to share a field with someone acting awfully. Ask Antonio Brown and his new football team. Oh wait... he isn't on another football team, yet.
