Brown’s ‘ helmet’ not on too tight

For a guy who is known for having one of the greatest work ethics in all of sports, Antonio Brown certainly has been missing a lot of time on the job. He went AWOL before his final game with the Steelers last season in a successful attempt to force a trade and get a new contract. Now, he is skipping out on the Oakland Raiders, who traded for him and gave him a three- year, $ 50,125,000 deal.

It has been one controversy after another with Mr. Big Chest and the Raiders. First, it was his blistered feet that were allegedly frostbitten in a cryotherapy session gone wrong. Now, it’s a dispute with the NFL over the helmet he prefers to wear. The Raiders have had 11 practices and played an exhibition game so far. Brown was able to do his look- at- me arrival at the team’s Napa, Calif., camp in a hot- air balloon, but he took part briefly in just two early practices before disappearing.

“I support this guy,” Raiders coach Jon Gruden said Saturday night after an exhibition game against the Los Angeles Rams. “I think that’s what needs to be said.”

Are you thinking what I’m thinking?

What else can Gruden say? The Raiders are stuck with Brown now.

Don’t you just love it?

If you listen closely, you can hear the laughter coming from Steelers training camp.

“I think we’re all disappointed,” Gruden acknowledged to ESPN last week after Brown left the team. “We think he’s disappointed. We’d like to get the party started. We’d like to get him out here. He’s a big part of the team.”

The feet fiasco with Brown is bad enough. How he could allow that to happen is almost

unfathomable, although Gruden called it a “total accident … it really wasn’t his fault and it’s a serious injury. I know some people are [ joking about] it, but it’s really not a laughing matter. The guy was hurt. He’s innocent. He didn’t do anything wrong.”

HelmetGate is even more hysterical. Apparently, Brown’s helmet doesn’t meet the NFL’s safety standards. He threatened to sit out the season or even retire after the league told him he couldn’t wear it.

Sure Brown will.

If you remember, he said he didn’t need football and suggested he might retire after last season, hoping that would hasten his trade from the Steelers, which it did.

“The helmet thing is a personal matter to him,” Gruden said. “He has a strong feeling about what he’s worn on his head. We’re supporting him. We understand the league’s position as well so we’re in a tough spot.”

All of this has put Gruden and his other players in the awkward position of having to answer questions for and about Brown. The Steelers know how miserable that is. They had to answer for Brown after he pouted and jogged back to the huddle during a two- minute drill in Miami and threw a water cooler in Baltimore and skipped work the Monday after a sideline blowup with offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner and — worst of all — bailed out on the team before a game against Cincinnati it had to win.

Isn’t that silence from Steelers camp — aside from the laughter at the Raiders, of course — a beautiful thing? The coaches and players appear focused on their business, although their world was rocked Sunday morning by the tragic, unexpected passing of receivers coach Darryl Drake. The Raiders have become Team Turmoil because of the narcissistic Brown, who continues to believe he is bigger than the team and can play by his own rules. I don’t know about you, I can’t wait for the next “Hard Knocks” on HBO. It should be great fun watching Gruden and the other players squirm.

I’ll bet the Steelers will be watching.

No one at their camp seems to be more focused than Ben Roethlisberger. He clearly wants to prove he can be productive and win games without Brown, who, in fairness, is the best receiver in Steelers history. That is a powerful motivator.

It never came down to a Ben- or- A. B. situation with the team even though Brown tried to make it one. I truly believe Brown had no real issues with Roethlisberger, that he targeted him with hate only to force a trade and get that new contract. It’s all about the money with Brown, which makes you wonder if all of the current nonsense surrounding him has anything to do with the New Orleans Saints giving Michael Thomas a $ 100 million contract. Brown can be petty and jealous.

Everyone from Art Rooney II to Kevin Colbert to Mike Tomlin knew Brown was a problem and knew he had to go. It seems almost comical now that Colbert took criticism for getting just third- and fifth- round draft choices from the Raiders. Considering how toxic Brown is, Colbert was lucky to get anything at all.

“We hope Antonio is back soon,” Gruden said, admitting he doesn’t know when that will happen. “He’s exciting to be around. I’m excited. I got some plays for him. I hope we can start calling them.”

Good luck with that.