Antonio Brown’s best chance to get in the good graces of the NFL is an insanity plea: Panelists
ESPN panelists wonder if out-of-work receiver Antonio Brown might be suffering from trauma.
For months football aficionados have been following the antics of Antonio Brown as if he was the antagonist of a scarcely believable Netflix original.
His behavior has been so erratic and enigmatic that the NFL has pretty much washed its collective hands of him. And you know the NFL — if Darth Vader could run a 4.3 in the 40, one of the member franchises would find a way to get him on a roster.
Recently the panelists of ESPN’s “First Take” took a relatively compassionate approach (keep in mind we’re still dealing with talk radio) regarding what appears to be Brown’s increasingly desperate cries for attention. He wants to play. He doesn’t want to play. Last week he torpedoed a scheduled meeting with the NFL with a profane social media blast.
“The best defense for Antonio Brown,” Stephen A. Smith said, “is an insanity plea.” To which Max Kellerman responded, “Exactly!”
“There’s no other excuse,” Smith said. “Between how he conducted himself in Pittsburgh. Standing to (Jon) Gruden in Oakland and then taping his conversation, which by the way, was against California law.
“Prior to getting traded (to the Raiders), he was interviewed in Pittsburgh and he said, ‘I don’t care about the money and I don’t need football.’
“He can’t make up his mind. I’ve gotten to the point where listening to him (I don’t know) if he’s sane or not, (if) there’s CTE.”
“I don’t think it’s as extreme as insanity,” said Molly Qerim. “But I do think potentially it can be the effects of trauma. Even from just when he was younger and things I’ve heard about that, I would like for him to address that because I do feel it’s real. Dealing with the human being Antonio Brown, I do feel like there are things … ”
“But the human element,” Smith interjected, “all I’m going to say is this: The problem with that is that it wasn’t a human element issue when you were pursuing the money from Pittsburgh. And you got it.”
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