There is perhaps no one in the NFL whose prime burned as hot and as bright as Antonio Brown’s did while he was with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Unfortunately, that prime came to a screeching halt. Brown’s antics became too much for legendary head coach Mike Tomlin to abide any longer. That led to his trade to the Oakland Raiders in 2019. Raiders head coach at the time, Jon Gruden, could not have been more ecstatic about acquiring a player of his caliber.
On Tuesday, Gruden spoke about that excitement while serving as a guest on the latest episode of one of Barstool’s most popular podcasts, Bussin’ With The Boys, hosted by former NFLers Will Compton and Taylor Lewan.
The former head coach couldn’t stop gushing about Brown’s on-field talent and the brief time he got to spend with the receiver. However, Brown never played for him in a game, a fact Gruden called “the most frustrating thing in my coaching career.”
“Really one of the most frustrating things of my coaching career, was not getting him to play for us. We had a minicamp back in Oakland, he put on a display. He took some of our routes that we like to call ‘lookies’, I got all these words, he made the routes look better than anybody I’ve ever seen.”
It was surprising to hear, not least because AB’s short tenure in Oakland is exclusively discussed in a negative light. Gruden even had positive things to say about Brown’s work ethic, calling his conditioning “sick”.
“His conditioning was sick. If we didn’t have a fence around the field, he might’ve got killed by a car because he finishes everything. He’ll run 100 miles an hour. I went home and got hammered one night after minicamp, I told my wife, ‘We’re going to complete every pass’. That’s how good this guy looked. He was phenomenal. And unfortunately, I never got him for one freaking game.”
Gruden also spoke about how that offseason was tough all around. There were all of AB’s antics, and you had a first-time GM in Mike Mayock trying to navigate that. Then, you also had the cameras following everyone everywhere for HBO’s Hard Knocks.
One positive surprise for Gruden was that AB and Vontaze Burfict—who laid an infamously dirty hit on AB in the playoffs in 2015 that knocked the WR out cold—actually got along pretty well at the facility.
Antonio Brown’s antics kept him from an all-time NFL career
However, Antonio Brown simply made it too tough on the Raiders and their front office. They knew they were getting a, let’s say, unique, person when they traded for Brown in 2019. Part of the reason the Steelers decided to move him was because of issues Brown was having with QB Ben Roethlisberger.
Another was an unsanctioned IG Live video Brown streamed on social media of a Tomlin postgame speech in the locker room late in the 2018 campaign. Many viewed this as Brown breaking a sacred unspoken rule about keeping things in the locker room private. From the minute he arrived at the Raiders, Gruden was already dealing with several AB-related issues.
“I never got around Antonio enough. Antonio showed up on a hot air balloon. He had his feet fried, he had cryotherapy. I’d never even heard of cryotherapy. And he had an issue with his helmet, he wasn’t happy the NFL wouldn’t let him wear his helmet. So we really never got him around the guys very much. I didn’t have very much interaction with him at all. “
Not to mention the last straw, which was when Brown posted a video on social media that included a private phone conversation between Brown and Gruden. After that, Brown was released by the Raiders. It was the beginning of the end for Brown, which was made all the more gut-wrenching considering just how good AB was during his prime.
No receiver in NFL history had more receptions in a six-season stretch than AB’s 686 from 2013-2018. Over that same span, his 9,145 receiving yards are 2nd-most all-time for a six-year stretch (Julio Jones).
His 67 TDs during that time are also 3rd all-time (Marvin Harrison, Davante Adams) for a six-year stretch. His 84.2 yards per game rank 3rd all-time among non-active players, and his 6.4 receptions per game are 1st all-time among non-active players.
Oh, what could have been.
After his polarizing summer stint with the Raiders, Tom Brady recruited him to the New England Patriots despite allegations of personal and sexual misconduct being leveled at Brown. He played one game, catching four passes for 56 yards and a touchdown before being cut.
The next year, Brady recruited him to his new team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He spent parts of two seasons with the Bucs, catching a TD as the team won Super Bowl 55. In Week 17 of the next year, in 2021, Brown’s NFL journey came to an infamous end. After a dispute with coaches, he took off his pads and ran to the locker room by crossing through the end zone in the middle of a play. What a way to go out.
2024-12-17 21:25:21