It has been a wild couple of weeks for Oakland Raiders wide receiver Antonio Brown, but he’s finally made his return to Napa for training camp. He has been absent for the last week because of an ongoing issue that he had with the NFL concerning their new helmet rules. He was also out because of a foot injury, but it seems like he’s mostly recovered from that. It looked like he may not make an appearance for the media and fans at Tuesday’s practice, but he eventually made his way to the field.
Antonio Brown Makes Appearance at Raiders Training Camp
Brown, of course, had the Hard Knocks crew swarming him. The often controversial wide receiver has likely been causing the team headaches over the last week or so, but there is no better ibuprofen than scoring touchdowns. There’s almost no way he’ll play in Thursday’s game versus the Arizona Cardinals, but his presence is an improvement. According to Silver & Black Pride’s Levi Damien, Brown is excited to get back and he’ll hit the field shortly.
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The Retirement Bluff
It would be very irresponsible to label Adam Schefter’s report that Brown would retire if he couldn’t wear his helmet fake news. It’s very possible that he made that claim and it was just a bluff. He has a flair for the dramatic and he probably did threaten to retire if couldn’t wear the helmet. Luckily, this whole thing seems to be fizzling out and the team can get back to focusing on football. Brown had a chance to speak to the media.
“We’re working with the NFL regarding the helmet,” said Brown when asked about the helmet situation. “I’ll make sure to put on the equipment approved helmet and I’ll be ready to go shortly.”
He also had a chance to talk about his foot issue.
“It’s a process. We all make excuses,” said Brown. “I’m feeling a lot better. It’s been a process with all the adversity. We’re still here standing, so it’s an opportunity to do what I desire to do.”
He said the media will have to “stay tuned” for when he’ll return to practice. He was also questioned as to where he’s been over the last week and he said he was seeing a foot specialist. He was very vague with a lot of his answers and it wasn’t expected for him to appear in front of the media, but it’s a good sign that he’s willing to talk. Not much more information has come to light as a result of his interview, but it’s good that he’s returned to the team. According to Brown’s agent Drew Rosenhaus, the retirement talks weren’t serious.
“I don’t think there was ever any legitimacy to the retirement talk,” said Rosenhaus about Brown’s reported threat.
Per The Athletic’s Vic Tafur, Rosenhaus said that Brown needed laser treatment on his feet and confirmed that he did suffer from frostbite. He also revealed that Brown has found helmets and that they’re on the way. Fortunately, Brown’s return should be near.
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