Oakland Raiders: 5 players with the most to prove in 2019
By Kevin Saito
Antonio Brown
It seems ridiculous to say that Antonio Brown has anything to prove on a football field, right? After all, he’s one of the very best receivers in the game today. Depending on who you talk to, some would say he’s the best. It seems safe to say that he’s at least in the top five.
Brown is a receiving machine and a dangerous weapon. When he’s got the ball in his hands, he can do some incredible things. He’s fast, has sure hands, is explosive, and can make defenders look downright silly.
Anytime Brown is on the field, he can score from anywhere and make plays all over the field. You can bet the offensively-minded Gruden is going to find a billion different ways to use him and get the ball in Brown’s hands as often as possible.
He’d be a fool not to.
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Where Brown is going to have to prove himself though is not on the field, but rather, off the field. This offseason, we’ve seen plenty of videos and have heard plenty of statements about the bond forming between quarterback Derek Carr and Brown.
That’s all well and good since that’s going to be a chemistry and relationship that will be critical to the team’s offensive success.
Where Brown is going to have to prove himself is being able to maintain that bond with Carr and not disrupt the team’s offensive chemistry when things go sideways. And things will eventually go sideways — it’s just the nature of team sports.
Nothing is ever one hundred percent perfect one hundred percent of the time.
There are going to be some bumps in the road along the way and perhaps times when Brown doesn’t feel he’s being utilized enough or in the right way. And he’s going to have to prove that he can deal with that.
We saw what happened when things went south between Brown and Ben Roethlisberger in Pittsburgh. That was a particularly messy divorce that allowed the Raiders to acquire Brown for a song and a dance in the first place.
There will be plenty of challenges for this Raiders team in 2019. And Brown is going to have to prove he can roll with the punches and remain a good teammate when things aren’t going right.