“Ain’t no more games,” Antonio Brown says at the conclusion of the video he posted to YouTube on Friday night.
Just how on the nose is that statement?
In the latest twist in the truly bizarre battle between Brown and the Raiders, the star wide receiver decided to show his side of the story. And by his side, he means recording a private telephone conversation between him and Jon Gruden and bringing it into the public light.
In a startlingly well-produced video, aiming to portray Brown as a family man away from the field, there are snippets of conversations between him and Gruden, who clearly is frustrated as his offseason splash 1) couldn’t play immediately because of frostbite on his feet 2) waged war with the NFL over the type of helmet he could wear and 3) redirected that war toward the Oakland front office, as GM Mike Mayock fined him for various missed practices, and Brown responded by reportedly calling him a “cracker” and had to be held back from the Raiders honcho.
“Please stop this shit and just play football. How hard is that?” Gruden, who mostly has been good cop in Raiders dynamic and has tried keeping a good relationship with Brown, says in the video. “You’re a great football player. Just play football.”
It’s unclear whether Brown is responding to Gruden or just for the video’s purposes, but he follows with: “I’m more than just a football player, man. I’m a real person. It ain’t about the football, I know I can do that. I show you guys that on the daily.”
Gruden told reporters earlier Friday he expected Brown to play Monday in the Raiders’ opener after Brown apologized to the team for his blowup with Mayock. Brown, who was then fined for that blowup, may be antic’ing his way out of that game and perhaps much more.
The stated purpose of the video, according to Brown: “With all these false narratives antagonizing me, it’s time for me to control my own narrative. Show the world I’m not the bad guy. Show the world you can free yourself from the lies and become your own person. I am not just AB the football player, I am Antonio Brown, the person, who paved a way for himself to be in charge of his own life. Free me!”
