Just when you thought all the drama that has surrounded Antonio Brown in recent days had reached its conclusion, things picked back up again late on Friday night. Brown posted a video to his Instagram account and YouTube channel titled “THIS IS MY LIFE. AIN’T NO MORE GAMES,” in which the Oakland Raiders’ All-Pro wide receiver had a phone call with his head coach, Jon Gruden.
The video shows Brown in a number of situations — at home with his family, working out, etc. — with music playing in the background. There are also clips of Brown being critiqued by various talking heads across the world of sports. But the biggest thing in the video is the conversation between Brown and Gruden. There’s some back and forth, with Gruden praising Brown’s work ethic and saying he’s his “favorite guy” at one point. Then, around the 1:02 mark, Gruden asks a major question.
“Let me ask you this, do you want to be a Raider or not?” Gruden asks.
“Man, I’ve been trying to be a Raider since day one,” Brown says. “I’ve been f*cking working my ass off harder than anyone. I don’t know why it’s a question of me being a Raider. It’s like, do you guys want me to be a Raider?”
Gruden, sounding exasperated, responds to this by asking Brown to “stop this sh*t and just play football,” and when Gruden calls him “a great football player,” Brown responds that he’s more than a football player, “I’m a real person, man.” Also interesting is the YouTube video’s description from Brown, which reads as follows:
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!
The caption on the video on his Instagram is similar, although not as long. This all came on the heels of a report that Brown received a fine from the Raiders on Friday stemming from his recent run-in with general manager Mike Mayock at practice on Thursday.
Source: The #Raiders fined WR Antonio Brown an unspecified amount for his unprofessional behavior in a recent interaction with GM Mike Mayock. “He’s been fined and he’s not happy,” the source said.
— Ed Werder (@WerderEdESPN) September 7, 2019
It appeared that was all in the past when word came out that Brown would avoid a suspension for all of this, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Further complicating factors, as some in the Twitterverse have pointed out, is that both parties need to consent to a phone call in the state of California being recorded, and it’s not clear whether Gruden did that. Then again, it appears that Gruden liked the video.
More on @AB84 You Tube video: Raiders source says Gruden was truly amused by it and even thought it was "awesome."
That's all. Next.— Chris Mortensen (@mortreport) September 7, 2019
You never want to try to predict a future you don’t know, but it seems safe to say there will be more twists in turns in what has been one of the more unpredictable sagas in recent NFL history.
