Just when you think the Antonio Brown drama cannot get any crazier, it does. Brown took to social media on Saturday morning, asking for his release in an Instagram post. The Raiders fined Brown $215,073.53 for conduct detrimental to the team and, in doing so, voided the $29.125 million in guaranteed money on his contract. Additionally, ESPN’s Adam Schefter notes that Brown will not be entitled to termination pay if Oakland decides to move on. Brown obviously didn’t take this well, and it looks like this pairing will be over before it ever really begins.
Update: The Oakland Raiders have released Antonio Brown
In addition to fining Antonio Brown $215,073.53 for conduct detrimental to the team that voided $29.125 million worth of guaranteed money in his contract, the Raiders sent Brown a letter that he no longer will be entitled to termination pay if they release him, per sources.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 7, 2019
Antonio Brown: Release Me, Raiders
Remember when the Raiders fleeced the Steelers by acquiring Brown for “just” a third- and fifth-round pick? Brown’s tenure in Oakland has been nothing short of disastrous. Brown started off on the wrong foot (pun intended) when he suffered frostbite from a cyrotherapy incident gone wrong. He compounded the issue by missing the grand majority of offseason workouts over his preferred helmet. Jon Gruden and Mike Mayock appeared to support Brown early on in this process, but their patience clearly wore this. Mayock famously said that Brown needs to decide “if he’s all-in or all-out” and issues a fine for missing practices.
This clearly didn’t sit well with Brown, as he posted the letter to Instagram while complaining about “haters” in the front office. Brown later confronted Mayock, with some reports claiming he called the general manager a “cracker” and that Vontez Burfict needed to break up a potential physical altercation.
Antonio Brown reportedly apologized to his teammates for his outbursts and appeared to be back on the right track. However, the former sixth-round pick posted a hype video in which he recorded a phone conversation with Gruden, seemingly without Gruden’s consent. While Gruden shrugged it off, the Raiders issued another fine and took away Brown’s guarantees. ESPN’s Jeff Darlington reported that Brown told him via email there is “no way [he] plays after they took that [guaranteed money].”
The Antonio Brown era is all-but over in Oakland, and it’s hard to imagine too many teams taking a risk on a player this damaging to a locker room.
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