The mystery surrounding Antonio Brown’s foot injury is starting to unravel. The Oakland Raiders and head coach Jon Gruden have stayed quiet on the matter. Brown has been nowhere to be seen in Napa over the last several practices and reports came out that he was seeing a foot specialist to see what’s going on with his feet. He even posted a video on Instagram to show off how busted up his feet are. While most are in the dark about what exactly is wrong with his feet, NFL analyst and former player Chris Simms believes he knows what’s wrong with Brown’s feet. Here’s Pro Football Talk’s summation of Simms’ comments:
“On Monday, PFT Live co-host Chris Simms said that the photos posted by Brown don’t reveal blisters but the peeling of layers of of skins from the bottom of his feet. Simms said that he once had a condition like that, thanks to what he called an ‘unidentified Buc fungus’ in Tampa.
After Monday’s show, Simms got word from someone with knowledge of the situation that Brown burned his feet by entering a cryotherapy machine without the proper footwear, and his feet were frostbitten.”
Yikes, that doesn’t sound like it feels very good. It would make sense that Brown would need to take some time off to get those feet back into shape. If true, why Brown would improperly use a cryotherapy machine this close to the season is beyond reason, but he can get away with this stuff because he’s a superstar.
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What Could This Mean?
It’s hard to know the severity of the issue until the Raiders or Brown announce something. The team remains very quiet on the matter and Gruden refuses to give any substantive comment. If it was something to be worried about, it’s likely that the team would’ve addressed it by now. Dr. David J. Chao doesn’t’ seem to think that Brown’s feet are too much cause for concern.
“Fortunately, this does not appear to be deep and involves mostly the ‘dead’ skin areas on the sole of his feet,” said Chao writing at The San Diego Union-Tribune. “Therefore, it should be easily treatable and his return to play should occur well before meaningful games are played.”
Chao wrote this piece before Simms gave his opinion so it’s unclear if frostbite to the feet could lead to a long absence. It just seems baffling that Brown would be this careless considering he’s notorious for taking care of his body. Brown isn’t at camp currently while he tries to figure out how to fix his feet. It’s very unlikely that he’ll play in Saturday’s preseason game against the Los Angeles Rams. Brown missing anytime during the regular season would be a massive blow. The Raiders are hoping that he’ll be a focal point of the offense. Hopefully, the severity of the situation is minimal and Brown is back within the next couple of weeks.
Update: Doctor Says Brown’s Feet Don’t Look Frostbitten
After the story about Brown being frostbitten blew up, the previously cited Dr. Chao took to Twitter to dispell rumors that that’s what happened to him.
Not buying the cryotherapy/frostbite story for @AB84. Follow this thread to see why. My thoughts still stand.
B) Hard to get frostbite in cryotherapy tank as time is so short (only minutes). Even if frostbite, toes (with lots of skin against cold air) more susceptible, not bottom of feet where there is good circulation (and assuming stand in chamber) is somewhat insulated against floor.
D) I can’t wait to see Hard Knocks and hope they address the mystery. In any case @AB84 should be cleared to practice soon.
As Chao mentions, he hasn’t looked at Brown’s feet in person, so it’s impossible for him to know for sure if Brown got frostbite or not. That being said, his words should be encouraging. The type of infection that Chao describes sounds much milder than frostbite. Time will tell if more information is to come to light.
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Antonio Brown Injury Update: Doctor Says His Feet Don’t Look Frostbitten