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If you didn’t see Antonio Brown’s tenure with the Oakland Raiders being an absolute shit show, then do you even watch football? Granted, you’d be forgiven for not expecting it to happen this soon, but still, we’ve all known how this one was going to end, right? We’ve seen this movie before — we know who Antonio Brown is.
Put it this way: Antonio Brown is arguably the best wide receiver in the league, and the team he made himself a household name on didn’t even want him. Let that sink in. Imagine the Atlanta Falcons wanting to ship out Julio Jones, or the Houston Texans trying to dump Deandro Hopkins– that’s the reality of Antonio Brown.
So, when reports came out that Brown was sidelined with frostbite because he went into a cryotherapy chamber without the proper footwear, was anyone really surprised? Sure, the injury itself — getting fucking frostbite — may be one of the most ridiculous and confounding in modern NFL history, but it should come as no surprise at all that Brown was the architect of such preposterousness.
And now, as if the Brown-Gruden-Raiders marriage wasn’t already off to a rocky start, the mercurial wide receiver has reportedly gone “radio silent”, leaving the Oakland Raiders with “zero clue where he [Brown] is or what the progress of the foot injury is”, according to WPXI sports reporter Chase Williams.
10 practices into training camp and Antonio Brown has already gone “radio silent” with the Raiders. They have zero clue where he is or what the progress of the foot injury is.
— Chase Williams (@chasepwilliams) August 8, 2019
When asked by reporters about the Brown situation, head coach Jon Gruden said he is “not going to get into the nature of his feet”, while general manager Mike Mayock said that he “doesn’t discuss injuries this time of year.”
While there is no official timetable for Brown’s return to the field, former Olympian Justin Gatlin said in an interview with TMZ Sports that he once suffered from a similar injury that sidelined him for “months”.
@AB84 just curious on why your feet look like the new @BurgerKing taco. pic.twitter.com/T1OwdOiOzx
— Daniel Darkis (@mentaldan2) August 4, 2019
If I were a betting man (which I certainly am, albeit largely unsuccessfully), I’d wager that Raiders fans are going to want to leave Brown in Oakland when they move to Las Vegas at season’s end.
More: Antonio Brown’s Nasty, Frostbitten Feet Get An Explanation From A Cryotherapy Expert