Antonio Brown reportedly will not play in Week 1
The Oakland Raiders have yet to publicly announce the extent of the disciplinary action against Antonio Brown, but the star wide receiver is not expected to play against the Denver Broncos in the team’s season opener on Monday night.
There was some speculation that the suspension the Raiders are planning to hand down to Brown could last just one offensive series or a portion of their Week 1 game, but Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that Brown will not play at all. It’s unclear if he will be formally suspended or just a healthy scratch, but he won’t be with the team.
Sources: The #Raiders are not planning to have WR Antonio Brown for Week 1. It’s not clear if it’s a suspension or if he’ll be merely inactive. But those are their plans. He likely will stay away from the team.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 5, 2019
Numerous reports indicate Brown will be suspended after he got in a heated argument with GM Mike Mayock over the message Brown posted on Instagram the previous day. Brown shared a photo of a letter from the team informing him he had been fined for missing practice, and he ripped the Raiders over it.
While it appears possible that the Raiders could look to void Brown’s contract for conduct detrimental to the team, his agent Drew Rosenhaus said Thursday that the goal is the repair the relationship.
Agent Drew Rosenhaus on @nflnetwork says “our goal is to salvage this relationship.” … “There is two sides to every story. My job is to bring everything back, try and get things worked out. Thats’ what I’m working on right now. … He says nothing is final."
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 5, 2019
The Raiders need Brown to avoid having a mundane offense again in their second year under Jon Gruden, but the details of the argument between Brown and Mayock sound pretty ugly. It could be tough to salvage that relationship.
