You probably didn’t think it could get any more ridiculous when you learned frostbite was keeping Antonio Brown off the practice fields.
But by now, we probably shouldn’t try and put limits on the star wide receiver’s irrationality.
The start of Brown’s tenure in Oakland became all the more tumultuous when the seven-time Pro Bowl selection reportedly filed a helmet grievance to the NFL. The helmet Brown has grown accustomed to is no longer permitted under league rules, and he’s not at all interested in wearing one that satisfies the league mandate. In fact, Brown reportedly is threatening to walk away from football entirely is he’s unable to wear his preferred helmet.
Brown isn’t the only superstar who isn’t thrilled about the new helmet rules. Tom Brady also has been forced to don new headgear after sporting the same model for nearly two decades. But Brady, unlike Brown, is taking the changes in stride.
“I’ve been experimenting with a couple different ones, and I don’t really love the one that I’m in, but I don’t really have much of a choice,” Brady said Monday on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Morning Show,” as transcribed by ESPN. “So I’m just trying to do the best I can to work with it.”
NFL players are very particular in the way they go about their business, including everything from their pregame meal to how they tape their wrists and ankles. But Brown is taking on a tough look by making such a big to-do about his helmet, especially considering he’s set to enter his first season with a new team. If arguably the greatest football player of all time is sensibly adapting to the new rules, so should Brown.
Given the presences of Mike Tomlin, Le’Veon Bell and Ben Roethlisberger, many thought the boatload of criticism Brown received in Pittsburgh was unjust. But based on just his few months with the Raiders, it now seems safe to say that it was warranted.
