Raiders’ Antonio Brown on injury list
Star wideout could miss first week of training camp
New star wide receiver Antonio Brown arrived in style to Raiders training camp Friday, but he won’t be taking the field with his new teammates.
Brown is listed on the Raiders’ non-football injury list released Friday afternoon. The Bay Area News Group learned the team has known about Brown possibly not being ready for two weeks, and that his absence from the field would span “probably” a week.
The NFI list is for players who were injured away from the team setting. General manager Mike Mayock said in a press conference earlier the only players expected to be unavailable were guard Denzelle Good (back surgery) and fullback Keith Smith (NFI).
If Brown misses significant time in training camp, that could prove costly for the Raiders as he works to find rhythm with quarterback Derek Carr.
Less important is the consideration that Hard Knocks viewers may not see as much of Brown and his largerthan-life personality if he isn’t on the field.
The Raiders, according to a source, have known for “a couple of weeks” there could be an issue with Brown being ready on Day 1 and that the wide receiver would “probably” miss a week of practice. As recently as six days ago, Brown tweeted a video of himself going through a workout catching bricks.
Neither Mayock nor coach Jon Gruden mentioned the possibility of Brown missing practice during the media session, and a specific injury has not been released.
Asked directly which players wouldn’t be ready to participate, Mayock said, “at this point, we have two names” – Good and Smith.
Mayock and Gruden talked up Brown in a way that suggested they weren’t overly concerned about a lengthy absence.
“I expected a little bit more than a hot air balloon,” Gruden said. “I thought he might jump out of an airplane in a parachute in here himself, but he’s going to add a lot of life to this organization at a position where obviously we need some explosive plays.”
Mayock said Brown’s work on the practice field impresses young and old alike.
“I can just tell you that at practice, when he catches a quick slant and gets vertical and goes, it’s rare to see grown men in the NFL start looking at each other and start giggling and a laughing. And it happens almost every day in practice,” Mayock said. “I think what it also does is the young guys get to see what an All-pro potential Hall of Famer actually practices on a daily basis. If you’re a young guy and you look at that, you’d better understand what it takes.”