The Oakland Raiders decided to cut bait with Antonio Brown. These five teams could embrace the risk and sign him.
When they traded for him this offseason, the Oakland Raiders had to know all they were getting in Antonio Brown. He has delivered drama since the start of training camp, from frostbitten feet in a cryotherapy chamber to his two-grievance helmet issue and more recently going to social media with the fine letter he got from the Raiders for absences.
Things really came to a head on Wednesday though. ESPN’s Adam Schefter Brown and general manager Mike Mayock had an altercation related to the posting of the fine letter on social media. Things apparently escalated to a point Brown physically threatened Mayock, so the team may be pursuing the idea of suspending him and thus voiding the $30.125 million in guaranteed money in his contract. That move, as fleshed out by Schefter, would end Brown’s time in Oakland.
As expected, Mayock did not add anything to the speculation regarding Brown on Thursday.
There’s no denying his talent, so there will be teams interested in Brown even after his release by the Raiders. On that note, these five teams should embrace that risk.
5. Cleveland Browns
The Browns are the team with the most hype heading into the 2019 season, and general manager John Dorsey has a history of being willing to bring in risky players.
Let’s imagine, and let Browns’ fans salivate over, the possibility of a wide receiving corps with Odell Beckham Jr. and Antonio Brown. Yes there’s only one ball, someone won’t be happy and he won’t be shy about his displeasure (via social media or otherwise). But Cleveland still has plenty of salary cap space to make it happen ($33.820 million, via Over The Cap).
Brown may want to go to Cleveland, if only so he can play the Steelers twice a year in 2019 and presumably going forward for a few years.