Getty Oakland Raiders WR Antonio Brown.
If there was any thought that it’d be a slow news week concerning Antonio Brown, that was quickly put to rest. The Oakland Raiders wide receiver has been making headlines all offseason and that’s unlikely to stop anytime soon.
He’s back at practice and is expected to hit the field against the Denver Broncos on Monday night, but he isn’t done causing a bit of drama. Recently, Brown called out former teammate, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger on Twitter and now he had some words for his own general manager.
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Antonio Brown Throws Shade at Mike Mayock on Instagram
It wasn’t long ago that Mike Mayock called out Antonio Brown for missing practice and it looks like he wasn’t too keen on letting that go. Mayock and the Raiders issued a fine to Brown, which elicited a response from the wide receiver on Instagram.
Antonio Brown’s Instagram Story.
“When your own team want to hate but there’s no stopping me now,” said Brown on his Instagram story. “Devil is a lie. Everyone got a pay this year so we clear.”
To be clear, Brown himself never directly mentions Mayock by name, but the fine was signed and sealed by the team’s general manager. He was fined $13,950 stemming from the aforementioned missed practice. While it was probably unnecessary for Mayock to fine his best player, it’s in very poor taste for Brown to make this a public issue.
Brown ditched practice and was punished in a the same fashion the rest of the league handles fines. It’s a little much to say that his team is trying to “hate” on him. He broke the rules. If any other player had done that, they’d likely receive the same punishment. It’s hard to imagine Mayock is going to be happy about this move, but there’s not really much more that needs to be said on the topic.
Will Antonio Brown’s Talent Outweigh His Drama?
Based on everything that’s been seen in training camp and practice, Brown still has plenty left in the tank and should be one of the best wide receivers in football. It’s going to be significantly easier for the Raiders to forget about any offseason drama once the regular season begins and he’s producing on the field. It’s difficult now as it seems he’s making news for non-football related issues consistently.
One notable thing that Brown said in his Instagram post was that “there’s no stopping me now.” While he’s clearly unhappy about the team’s decision to fine him, it doesn’t look like he’s going to let it affect him on the field. Brown obviously likes to air out his thoughts on social media and has even previously realized that he potentially shouldn’t have posted something and will delete it shortly after. It wouldn’t be a surprise if Mayock or Jon Gruden get ahold of him about this post.
Brown needs to have a very good season to put the off-field drama in the rearview mirror. First, it was the foot issue, then it was the helmet topic, followed by the Roethlisberger tweet and now this. He has the ability to make fans forget about this offseason, but time will tell if he can make it happen.
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Raiders’ Antonio Brown Throws Shade at Mike Mayock on Instagram