Ah, for those halcyon days of last week when all we had to worry about with Antonio Brown was whether he'd establish a good rapport with Derek Carr. Or even a couple of days ago when frostbitten feet was the issue. Now it's whether he's going to take his ball and go home.
Brown is upset about the new league-mandated helmets meant to reduce the risk of concussions. There's a good discussion of the issue at this link. Apparently the helmet model preferred by Brown (and 31 other players) has been banned going forward. He's filed a grievance with the league, and that fight has as much to do with why he's been away from the Raiders as the foot injury. Supposedly he'd rather not play football again than give up his helmet.
No doubt we'll get more details on this nutty sounding story in the days to come, but this being a fantasy site, here are some thoughts regarding Brown's fantasy value.
We had him ranked around 9-10 (highest in PPR, natch) at wide receiver in Thursday's ranking update. We've generally felt that Jon Gruden's offense will work to get the ball into the hands of its No. 1 receiver, and Brown would have a top-10 like year -- not as good as he'd generally had in Pittsburgh with Ben Roethlisberger but still pretty good.
But now that outlook needs to be balanced by the (unlikely) possibility that Brown will walk away from the game, or an additional (unlikely) possibility that the Raiders get tired of this circus and just cut the guy. I haven't examined the financial ramifications of that. But it's not as if the Raiders gave up a first-round pick for him, and they can't be happy that their preseason is starting off with this story that has reasonable people wondering if Brown has totally gone looney tunes.
I wasn't really planning on drafting Brown anyway. Great player. But he's 31 years old, he's on a new team, and there are other guys of similar value and placement in the rankings who I can reasonably draft with similar expectations, but who don't have the new team, age, and diva negatives. And now, factoring in this dog and pony show stuff, I really won't be selecting Brown. Who needs the headache?
When Monday's rankings come out, if there are no further developments in this story, I suspect Brown will have fallen a number of spots. He's clearly not going to be playing in the preseason, most likely, so even if he comes to his senses (or the league says, sure, hell, sign this waiver and then wear whatever you want on your head), he'll probably be working with Carr without much practice time. That's assuming the foot issue is minor, which some reports have indicated.
But I can't help but think there will be further developments in this story. Brown possibly missing time somewhere along the way due to some sort of drama like this, or maybe a team suspension at some point, doesn't seem far-fetched.
I'm personally feeling an increased interest in Tyrell Williams. He might just have to be the No. 1 if Brown remains or goes AWOL. And maybe even likely slot receiver Hunter Renfrow becomes more than just a last-round pick.
I suppose if you're drafting today, with Brown's status kind of murky, he'll fall far enough to where you maybe think the risk is worth it. If you can get a possible top-1o or 15 wide receiver in the third or even fourth round due to people being scared off, maybe you consider it.
But me, I'd rather draft guys I think are going to play 16 games, going to be committed to the team for 16 games, and aren't going to have occasional meltdowns where they storm off (as apparently happened in Pittsburgh and seems to be on the docket in Oakland). As things stand right now, he doesn't seem worth the risk. Sorry, AB.
--Andy Richardson