Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to reflect ongoing developments.
Oakland Raiders wide receiver Antonio Brown threatened violence against his team’s general manager, and the team did not take the appropriate action until he absolutely forced them to.
On Wednesday, Brown had a heated exchange with Raiders GM Mike Mayock where he unleashed a barrage of foul language and went as far as threatening to punch Mayock in the face. The exchange came because Mayock was unhappy that Brown had posted a part of a letter the GM sent him on social media. The letter had to do with the $54,000 the team fined him for a pair of unexcused absences from practice during training camp.
Although the Raiders asked Brown to not come to practice on Thursday and it appeared as though they could void the wide receiver’s contract, they changed their attitude. After Brown apologized on Friday, the team decided they were not going to suspend or release him after all, as the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport tweeted.
However, that changed when a furious Brown received an additional $215,000 fine and the Raiders removed the clause of his contract which stated all of his money was guaranteed ($29.125 million) for his shenanigans. They were able to do this because their roster does not have to be set until their first game on Monday, so he had not technically worked for them yet. As a result, he demanded his release on Instagram on Saturday morning — and the Raiders granted him his wish.
The #Raiders have released WR Antonio Brown. Wow.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 7, 2019
If the Raiders had it their way, however, Brown would have played in the team’s opener this Monday against the Denver Broncos.
In letting Brown stay with the team until he decided he wanted to leave, the Raiders made a big mistake and set an awful precedent. Threatening violence against one’s higher-ups at work is an unacceptable action and deserves to be met with harsh disciplinary action.
Instead, the Raiders, at first, wanted to let Brown’s actions to slide because he is an elite player, and they wanted to prioritize winning games — even though Sporting News projects them going 5-11 this season.
This is an issue the NFL as a whole needs to address. The teams in the league feature players far worse than just national anthem kneelers, including domestic abusers, among other types of crimes. What kind of example does it set for children watching the league if they are taught that character does not matter as long as the team is winning games?
Not a positive one.
Some were also irked that Brown called Mayock a “cracker” in the spat, although the term does not have nearly the same weight the N-word does when used against black Americans. Even so, paired with the violent threat and the other bad language he used, it’s certainly not a great look.
By not taking swift and proper action, however, the Raiders showed other players they accepted Brown’s foul behavior because he can catch a football. It could encourage more bad behavior from players in the future. After all, he ultimately decided he would be leaving the team, Oakland wanted to keep him. If anything like this happens again, it will be Oakland’s own fault for not addressing this instance properly.
Tom Joyce (@TomJoyceSports) is a freelance writer who has been published with USA Today, the Boston Globe, Newsday, ESPN, the Detroit Free Press, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Federalist, and a number of other media outlets.
