Antonio Brown won’t play until his guarantees are restored

[Rusher]

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The Antonio Brown era in Oakland appears to be over before it begins.

Although a source with knowledge of the situation tells PFT that the relevant communications from the Raiders are open to interpretation (i.e., a grievance will be coming), Brown believes the Raiders have stripped his remaining guarantees in the amount of $29.125 million.

Brown told Jeff Darlington of ESPN via email that the Raiders “took away my guarantees,” and that there’s “no way I play after they took that and made my contract week to week.”

Brown can’t be forced to play. The question is whether the Raiders will discipline him — or cut him — for refusing to play.

Of course, he wants to be cut. There may be another path the Raiders can take, and if Brown isn’t careful he’s going to end up playing right into their strategy, if he doesn’t play on Monday.

I’ll outline that potential strategy in the next post.