Antonio brown helmet issue \ GM fight \ suspension \ RELEASED: MERGED

[Miss Lonelyhearts]

At the end of the day all wide receivers are basically the TI character from season 3 of House of Lies.

[jeremy2020]

5 minutes ago, Scoop24 said:

NFLPA is not gonna sit there’s and let this man just lose 30 mill that was guaranteed over a argument . It’s bigger than just AB . Like I said with that CBA coming . They have set a tone. There may be better cases . But this is today’s case and Every single player is watching this situation. 

Not sure the case of a player threatening physical violence and having to be held back by teammates not being suspension worthy is fighting from the best position. If they do this, it's DeMaurice Smith shooting himself in the foot once again. The CBA will turn into a referendum(publically, at least) on AB and diva players. Not a winning fight for the NFLPA. 

They should absolutely help him with a defense, but I it would be a mistake for NFLPA to turn this into a big deal. It's DeMaurice Smith though and he likes to lose.

[Barry McCockinner]

14 minutes ago, Matt39 said:

yeah, this is Mayocks fault.

Never said it was. I'm saying he's handling the situation created by AB poorly.

[Matt39]

4 minutes ago, Scoop24 said:

NFLPA is not gonna sit there’s and let this man just lose 30 mill that was guaranteed over a argument . It’s bigger than just AB . Like I said with that CBA coming . They have set a tone. There may be better cases . But this is today’s case and Every single player is watching this situation. And this isn’t to say the raiders won’t win in long run . But this is gonna be a fight . 

It's pretty cut and dry. If you skip practice you get fined. The NFLPA doesnt have a leg to stand on here. 

[14 in Green]

Couple of thoughts...

If they trade him and his contract, the team acquiring him would be getting him very cheap, considering his bonus has already been paid (?).

The best case scenario would be Brown swallowing his pride and apologizing to his team and Mayock, but good luck with that.

I think @Jet Nut was right, Gruden and Mayock are probably huddling with team lawyers right now. I can't imagine AB ever taking a snap in a Raider uniform at this point.

Where the hell is Gruden through all of this?

 

[Matt39]

1 minute ago, Barry McCockinner said:

Never said it was. I'm saying he could handle the situation created by AB poorly.

Brown posted the photo of the fine letter. This is just total self (intentional) sabotage from Brown. Not much the Raiders can do.

[CTJetsFan]

20 minutes ago, Scoop24 said:

With CBA coming up . I think it’s hill there definitely gonna die on. They gotta set the tone from now. That guaranteed money issue in the nfl is no joke and players been getting fleeced for years . 

The guaranteed money part I agree with. But I don't think this will be the test case/example they (NFLPA) want to use given Brown's behavior both with the team (Mayock and fine) and the league (helmet).

[Scoop24]

5 minutes ago, Matt39 said:

It's pretty cut and dry. If you skip practice you get fined. The NFLPA doesnt have a leg to stand on here. 

Keep thinking that . We will see when the lawyers get involved . I think AB very much at fault . But I know for fact nflpa not gonna sit in there hands and just let 30 million guaranteed money Just get taken away . I can tell you it’s far from cut and dry as you think . 

I know as fans y’all love to side with the team . But contracts of this caliber are not just easily terminated. 

[Matt39]

2 minutes ago, Scoop24 said:

Keep thinking that . We will see when the lawyers get involved . I think AB very much at fault . But I know for fact nflpa not gonna sit in there hands and just let 30 million guaranteed money Just get taken away . I can tell you it’s far from cut and dry as you think . 

I know as fans y’all love to side with the team . But contracts if this caliber are not just easily terminated. 

It was guaranteed on the premise he behaved and showed up for practice. He didn't. He's gone. No one cares enough about Anotnio Brown for him to change the dynamics of contracts and the league.

[Scoop24]

 

[Barry McCockinner]

3 minutes ago, Matt39 said:

Brown posted the photo of the fine letter. This is just total self (intentional) sabotage from Brown. Not much the Raiders can do.

Better way Mayock could have handled this than running to the media with threats "Raiders are going to suspend"

1. Keep your mouth shut.
2. Put Brown on waiver wire to see what teams are willing to give.
3. Cut your losses and trade him for the best offer or if you don't get any, go ahead and suspend him - then report minimal details to the media.

Instead he's made matters worse and lowered his already sunken value. Just my opinion. 

Brown is a nut case wreaking havoc on a rookie GM. The Steelers keeping this under wraps for years is nothing short of amazing.

[HawkeyeJet]

Antonio Brown is a nut.  Knock on wood if you're with me!

[Matt39]

Just now, Barry McCockinner said:

Better way Mayock could have handled this than running to the media with threats "Raiders are going to suspend"

1. Keep your mouth shut.
2. Put Brown on waiver wire to see what teams are willing to give.
3. Cut your losses and trade him for the best offer or if you don't get any, go ahead and suspend him - then report minimal details to the media.

Instead he's made matters worse and lowered his already sunken value. Just my opinion. 

Brown is a nut case wreaking havoc on a rookie GM. The Steelers keeping this under wraps for years is nothing short of amazing.

I think Brown's already gone so it doesnt really matter at this point.

[Scoop24]

2 minutes ago, Matt39 said:

It was guaranteed on the premise he behaved and showed up for practice. He didn't. He's gone. No one cares enough about Anotnio Brown for him to change the dynamics of contracts and the league.

 and as of right now he isn’t gone . If it was as cut and dry as you think they would of cut him yesterday when it happen ..

[Butterfield]

55 minutes ago, Barry McCockinner said:

to be clear, my post wasn't intended to absolve AB of anything. The guy is clearly a nut, and causing the issue.

I just think Mayock is making matters worse when he could have done a better job of smoothing things out. Seems like he's trying to scare AB using the press and it's causing a fire storm.

I agree.  AB is a nut, but this charade also proves you should probably hire a GM who has managed something/anything before.  Mayock has never done that.  He has no idea what he is doing or how to handle difficult people. 

[nyjbuddy]

 

 

[Jet Nut]

17 minutes ago, Barry McCockinner said:

Again, I'm not absolving AB of anything and agree he's at fault. I'm just pointing out that it looks like amateur hour out here with Mayock reacting to this fiasco. He's not helping matters and is likely costing his team draft capital.

And I'll say it again, Mayock, IMO had no choice.  Its entirely on AB

[Patriot Killa]

A man possesses a gift that only a select few get to enjoy and this is what he does to the organization that gives him an opportunity not only to showcase that talent, but to possibly set him up for life after he retires. The world is a funny place, man.

[BROOKLYN JET]

Yesterday he almost punched Mayock. LOL!

[Scoop24]

 

[Jet Nut]

7 minutes ago, Barry McCockinner said:

Better way Mayock could have handled this than running to the media with threats "Raiders are going to suspend"

1. Keep your mouth shut.
2. Put Brown on waiver wire to see what teams are willing to give.
3. Cut your losses and trade him for the best offer or if you don't get any, go ahead and suspend him - then report minimal details to the media.

Instead he's made matters worse and lowered his already sunken value. Just my opinion. 

Brown is a nut case wreaking havoc on a rookie GM. The Steelers keeping this under wraps for years is nothing short of amazing.

Keep your mouth shut?  

And this is you NOT blaming Mayock.  

You arent getting who AB is. 

He wanted more money, was pissed he wasnt the highest paid WR, wanted to force his way out of Pitt after years of Tomlin and the Steelers letting "AB be AB".  

They tried to trade him to Buffalo, AB wouldnt go there, not cool enough for AB.  You want to be the highest paid WR, thats not enough afterall.

Then he gets traded to somewhere he could be happy.  Is paid at the top of his profession.  He won ever step of the way.  Hes now out of control becaus no one every told him no, this is it, take it or leave it.

Until now.

[shawn306]

After this who would even touch him ?

[Bruce Harper]

1 hour ago, Scoop24 said:

 

Imagine they think for 50 million he should have to go to practice.

[Jet_Engine1]

1 hour ago, Barry McCockinner said:

to be clear, my post wasn't intended to absolve AB of anything. The guy is clearly a nut, and causing the issue.

I just think Mayock is making matters worse when he could have done a better job of smoothing things out. Seems like he's trying to scare AB using the press and it's causing a fire storm.

Brown released the internal memo, not Mayock. 

[GREENBEAN]

53 minutes ago, NYallDay said:

Threatened to punch the gm of your team... you sir are gone


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I wonder if THIS is the story line Gruden was talking about.   

[nyjbuddy]

This was from an article over 2 weeks ago but has some good information on AB's contract situation.  

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/agents-take-what-happens-if-raiders-try-to-void-antonio-browns-guarantees-in-his-contract/

The Raiders seem to be tiring of the drama surrounding Antonio Brown. General manager Mike Mayock expressed frustration with the mercurial wide receiver missing Sunday's practice because of an ongoing helmet issue during a brief impromptu meeting with the media. He issued an ultimatum to Brown for him to be all in or all out. Brown returned on Monday for a team meeting before the Raiders broke training camp.

Brown previously left training camp for several days because of an inability to wear an outdated helmet, the Schutt AiR Advantage that's no longer approved for NFL use, and to continue recovering from a cryotherapy chamber mishap that happened before training camp opened that damaged his feet. Brown had been cleared for practice despite the foot issue.

The four-time All-Pro also filed a second grievance on Monday asserting that he wasn't given a full calendar year grace period to find a new helmet. Just over a week ago, an arbitrator denied Brown's request to use his old helmet, which he has worn for his entire NFL career.

Whether Brown is actually all in with the Raiders remains to be seen.

Brown's contract
Whenever there is an issue in a business relationship, a natural tendency is for the parties to examine the contract between them. Let's take a look at Brown's contract.

The Raiders gave the Steelers third- and fifth-round picks in the 2019 draft to acquire Brown in March. As a part of the trade, Brown got an upgraded contract. He received an $11.2 million raise over the three remaining years of the four-year, $68 million contract extension he signed with the Steelers in 2017. He is scheduled to make $50.125 million over the three years, with the potential of an additional $4 million through incentives.

The adjusted contract has $30.125 million fully guaranteed. The guaranteed money is Brown's $14.625 million 2019 base salary, $14.5 million 2020 base salary and $500,000 workout bonuses in 2019 and 2020. The $1 million of workout bonuses are being treated like signing bonus for salary cap purposes and prorated over the three years due to being fully guaranteed at the signing of the adjusted deal.

It is standard for NFL contracts to contain language voiding salary guarantees for a laundry list of reasons. The conditions vary depending on team convention, the attention the agent pays to the language and his/her leverage in negotiations.

Brown's contract isn't any different than anybody else's. The default language in Brown's contract that controls the voiding of his guarantee reads as follows:

"Notwithstanding this Skill, Injury and Cap Guarantee, Player shall report to Club, practice with Club, play with Club, and honor all terms of the Contract, including all addenda thereto. If at any time Player does not report to Club; does not practice or play with Club; leaves Club without prior written approval (including, but not limited to retirement); does not honor any terms of the Contract (including any addenda thereto); is suspended by the NFL or Club for conduct detrimental, violation of the NFL's Personal Conduct Policy, violation of the NFL Policy on Substances of Abuse, or violation of the NFL Policy on Anabolic Steroids and Related Substances; violates any other agreements between Club and Player; or is injured as a result of a breach of Paragraph 3 of the Contract or as a result of participation in hazardous activities which involve a significant risk of personal injury and are non-football in nature (including but not limited to skydiving, hang gliding, mountain climbing, auto racing, motorcycling, scuba diving, skiing, and any other sports) then Player shall be in default ("Default") and the Skill, Injury and Cap Guarantee shall be null and void and Player shall be only eligible to earn his remaining stated Paragraph 5 salary on a weekly, non-guaranteed basis if Player is on Club's roster for the 2019 League Year and meets all ordinary criteria for earning Paragraph 5 Salary, subject to any applicable fines."

This exact language is a part of each salary component that is guaranteed, with a couple of differences. The main differences are "2020 League Year" replacing "2019 League Year" and "Workout Pay" replacing "Paragraph 5 salary" where applicable.

The effect of voiding guarantees
Brown's actions would seemingly give the Raiders grounds to enforce the voiding of his guarantees. With the guarantees remaining intact, it would be too salary cap prohibitive for the Raiders to release Brown until 2021, when he no longer has financial contract security.

For example, Brown's 2019 cap charge would increase by $14.5 million because of the 2020 salary guarantee accelerating onto Oakland's current cap with his release. The Raiders have approximately $17.2 million of 2019 cap space, according to NFLPA calculations. The only 2020 cap charge for Brown would be $666,667 relating to the proration of the workout bonuses. The guarantees have an offset so the Raiders would get cap relief from whatever deal Brown signed to play this season with another team.

The Raiders would have much more flexibility with Brown by voiding the guarantees. If released before the start of this regular season, the Raiders' only 2019 cap obligation would be $333,333 of bonus proration since Brown's now unsecured $14.625 million base salary wouldn't be paid. The 2020 cap charge would be likely $166,667, with Brown's $14.5 million 2020 base salary and $2.5 million game day active roster bonuses ($156,250 per game) coming off Oakland's books and a $500,000 cap credit from the unpaid previously guaranteed 2020 workout bonus.

Brown's 2019 base salary would become fully guaranteed through the NFL collective bargaining agreement's termination pay provisions with the guarantees voiding provided he was on Oakland's 53-man roster for the season opener against the Broncos on September 9. The Raiders would need to demonstrate that Brown failed to give a good faith effort after a written warning to try to invalidate any termination pay claim.

Practically speaking, the impact of voiding the guarantees probably wouldn't potentially come into play until next offseason since the Raiders have been expecting Brown to be their primary weapon in the passing game this season. A subpar performance or continued drama throughout this season would put his roster spot for 2020 in jeopardy. The Raiders' 2020 cap relief would be the same as if released this year.

Brown would surely file a grievance to collect the balance of the guarantees if released after the Raiders enforced voiding. This could be a dispute over as much as $29.625 million depending on the timing of Brown's release.

The Trent Richardson case
Grievances over the voiding of guarantees are a rarity. There was one involving 2012 third-overall pick Trent Richardson relating to less egregious conduct than Brown's. Richardson has been a disappointment since the Colts gave the Browns a 2014 first-round pick for him early in the 2013 season. He was a healthy scratch in the 2014 AFC divisional playoffs and was given a two-game conduct detrimental suspension for missing a walk through the day before the AFC Championship Game without alerting the team beforehand of his absence, which was due to a serious family emergency.

The Colts voided the guarantee for Richardson's $3,184,062 2015 base salary because of the suspension. Richardson promptly filed a grievance over the guarantee claiming that his actions didn't qualify as conduct detrimental after the Colts released him in March 2015. The grievance was eventually settled with Richardson receiving $561,893, which equaled three weeks of his 2015 salary.

The NFLPA lost a similar challenge in 2013 with cornerback Eric Wright over his $7.75 million 2013 contract guarantee voiding because of his performance enhancing drugs suspension during the 2012 season while with the Buccaneers.

Final thoughts
Conventional wisdom suggests that Brown's latest grievance is a Hail Mary, which will likely fail. Ideally, Brown would accept a second unfavorable decision so he could focus on having his seventh straight 100-catch season.

The Raiders have been exercising restraint and patience with Brown. Highly productive players such as Brown are typically given more leeway than lesser talents. If Mayock is true to his word, the Raiders may be rapidly getting to the point where exercising contractual rights will be more important than pacifying Brown.

[Bruce Harper]

1 hour ago, Scoop24 said:

It appears Mayock said some things that AB felt were disrespectful to his manhood. 

AB was upset about being fined and posted it on social media. He also had some issues on some of the things Mayock had said about him in the past. AB felt that Mayock was talking down to him and he wouldn’t accept that type of disrespect. 

AB has no problems with Gruden.

The Raiders are trying to decide how long to suspend him. It could be a series, could be four games.

 

Mayock must of been talking a whole lot of sh*t. To disrespectful to his manhood Lmaoo . Hard knocks failed us this year . 

I love that a guy who is getting paid HUGE bucks, doesn't show up for work and consistently embarrasses and disparages his employer feels that he must be respected at all times.  How about if you show a little respect for yourself and your employer?

[Bruce Harper]

1 hour ago, Barry McCockinner said:

to be clear, my post wasn't intended to absolve AB of anything. The guy is clearly a nut, and causing the issue.

I just think Mayock is making matters worse when he could have done a better job of smoothing things out. Seems like he's trying to scare AB using the press and it's causing a fire storm.

It was AB that tried to use the press.  Mayock tried to keep the whole thing on the down low. 

Sorta makes you respect how well the Steelers were able to keep the full extent of his wackictude under wraps.

[JoJoTownsell1]

44 minutes ago, jeremy2020 said:

Not sure the case of a player threatening physical violence and having to be held back by teammates not being suspension worthy is fighting from the best position. If they do this, it's DeMaurice Smith shooting himself in the foot once again. The CBA will turn into a referendum(publically, at least) on AB and diva players. Not a winning fight for the NFLPA. 

They should absolutely help him with a defense, but I it would be a mistake for NFLPA to turn this into a big deal. It's DeMaurice Smith though and he likes to lose.

lol

[peebag]

I seriously believe that Antonio Brown has been purposely trying to not play this upcoming season.

Either that or he's freaking nuts.

[Barry McCockinner]

21 minutes ago, Jet Nut said:

Keep your mouth shut?  

And this is you NOT blaming Mayock.  

You arent getting who AB is. 

He wanted more money, was pissed he wasnt the highest paid WR, wanted to force his way out of Pitt after years of Tomlin and the Steelers letting "AB be AB".  

They tried to trade him to Buffalo, AB wouldnt go there, not cool enough for AB.  You want to be the highest paid WR, thats not enough afterall.

Then he gets traded to somewhere he could be happy.  Is paid at the top of his profession.  He won ever step of the way.  Hes now out of control becaus no one every told him no, this is it, take it or leave it.

Until now.

I don't think I could possibly state it more clearly. Ab created the situation and is to blame. Mayock isn't handling the situation well.

At this point you're either purposely misrepresenting what I'm saying or unable to comprehend. Either way I'm done trying with you on the subject.

✌️

 

[nycdan]

If there is a god, and he loves us, he will find a way for CLE to make room under their cap to bring him in next to Odell.  Talk about letting Nitro and Glycerin play together in the same beaker...

Honestly, it makes sense that no team should want anything to do with the toxicity that accompanies AB, but some team always does.  Pats always think they can bring out the best in a headcase and he would probably zoom over there as fast as his cryogenic tootsies can take him. 

The more interesting question is, if against all odds, no team was willing to sign him, would there be a (baseless) collusion suit filed?  I'm guessing yes.

[flgreen]

1 hour ago, playtowinthegame said:

Wow...that escalated quickly. Lol

Well, when a player threatens to punch the GM in the face, it usually does.  

[nycdan]

2 minutes ago, flgreen said:

Well, when a player threatens to punch the GM in the face, it usually does.  

See, around here, our players know better.  They just punch the starting QB in the face.

[Scoop24]

5 minutes ago, peebag said:

I seriously believe that Antonio Brown has been purposely trying to not play this upcoming season.

Either that or he's freaking nuts.

CTE