Antonio Brown announced his retirement from the NFL yet again Monday, tweeting “i done everything in the game” and “at this point the risk is greater than the reward.”
CBS Sports Radio host Zach Gelb couldn’t help but roll his eyes – and ask himself two questions: One, is the NFL going to suspend Brown? And two, does Brown actually want to play football?
“The first question, I don’t know,” Gelb said on The Zach Gelb Show. “The second question, I do think the guy wants to play.”
Which means Gelb isn’t taking Brown’s latest retirement announcement seriously.
“When I read that stuff, does it change my opinion and do I now sit back and do I become an Antonio Brown sycophant and do I genuflect to every word that Antonio Brown says and now all of a sudden I go, ‘Oh, that’s it, no more Antonio Brown, he wants out, he’s done, he’s retiring?’ Absolutely not,” Gelb said. “If anyone actually believes anything Antonio Brown says anymore, you’re a fool. How can you believe anything that he says?”
Brown, 32, announced his retirement from the NFL in September 2019, tweeting, “Will not be playing in the @NFL anymore these owners can cancel deals do whatever they want at anytime.”
That, however, didn’t stop Brown from working out with Lamar Jackson and Russell Wilson in recent months.
“Why should anyone believe that is an authentic thought?” Gelb asked, referring to Brown’s Monday tweet. “All that is, is Antonio Brown, who hasn’t been in the news for a little bit – other than the discussions of are the Ravens going to sign him or are the Seattle Seahawks going to sign him – [finding] a way to stir up some drama. Let me find that way to get the drama pot flowing. [It’s] Antonio Brown news and people talking about him. That’s what it is.”
Is it possible that Brown woke up Monday morning feeling genuinely aggrieved by the NFL? Sure. Are those feelings justified given Brown’s extensive off-field baggage? Not even a little bit.
“Maybe Antonio Brown is wired in such a weird way that that’s what he thought [Monday] morning,” Gelb said. “Do I expect that thought, though, to stick? Do I expect Antonio Brown to actually not want to get back on the football field? Absolutely not. If a team offered him a deal, if a team comes to him and says, ‘We want to bring you in, one year, [for $8-10 million], you think AB is going to go, ‘Naw, I’m cool. Naw, I’m all right, I’m not going to play?’ He’s absolutely going to say, ‘Yeah, sign me up, I want to go. The Redemption Tour continues’ – even though he’s been his biggest enemy.
“That’s something AB wasn’t wrong about,” Gelb continued. “He said his biggest opponent is himself; AB has got to outwork AB. Whatever that does mean, he wasn’t wrong. [When] you look at Antonio Brown, his biggest problem has been himself. That’s been his biggest opponent. We all know what the talent is. We all know the generational talent [he is]. We all know the Hall of Fame numbers that he has put up. Now you seriously have to ponder and you seriously have to ask yourself and weigh the pros and cons if it’s worth bringing Antonio Brown in. Now Antonio Brown wants to retire for the third time? Come on.”