NFL wideout Antonio Brown has put football on the backburner as he has made his past few months a reality show.
Antonio Brown ended the 2018 season on the wrong foot with the Steelers when he missed practices, engaged in beef with quarterback Ben Rothelisberger, and was benched for the last game of the season. He then tweeted about how it was time to move on from the Steelers. However, this was only the beginning for the NFL’s new drama queen.
On LeBron James’ barbershop-set HBO series, ‘The Shop, Brown expressed what he was really thinking about the whole situation with Big Ben and the Steelers’ organization. Shortly after, Brown was traded to the Oakland Raiders.
Brown was introduced in Oakland and stated he was there to be a good teammate and a source of positive energy, he ended up being anything but.
Brown later engaged in petty Twitter drama with former Steeler teammates Ryan Clark and JuJu Smith-Schuster, adding on to the drama filled offseason for Antonio Brown.
A few months later, Brown become upset that he was not allowed to wear his favorite style of helmet, one that had not been made since 2011. The helmet was not up to NFL standards, but Brown wanted the helmet. Because of this, he threatened to retire if he could not wear that helmet. He filed multiple grievances against the NFL and missed practices as a result of the helmet fiasco. This frustrated Raiders General Manager Mike Mayock who said Brown needs to be all in or all out.
In early September, the helmet drama finally came to a close when Brown settled for a different helmet. Later that day Brown received a fine from Mayock for team absences. The next day Brown confronted Mayock and called him a “cracker”. He had to be separated by teammates as well. In addition, Brown punted a football at the GM and said to fine him for that. The Raiders had intentions of suspending Brown for a game.
To many people’s surprise, the Raiders then said Brown would play in week 1. That ultimately did not happen as the Raiders released Brown.
Brown was quickly signed by the New England Patriots who have a history of taking on questionable characters.