The idea of any NFL team, even the Kansas City Chiefs, signing Antonio Brown at this point is completely silly. He’s a cancer and needs help.
The moment the Oakland Raiders finally pulled the plug on the failed Antonio Brown experiment, the rumors started to fly about who his new team would be. Never mind that he has already wormed his way out of two franchises at a steep cost to both. The popular belief is that talent trumps turmoil in the end.
Maybe it does. Maybe a crazy franchise will sign an equally unhinged player. But for the sake of the health and culture of the Kansas City Chiefs, here’s hoping that team is not one with Andy Reid as head coach.
If any signs point to Brown in red and gold in the near future, it’s likely due to the current culture and strong leadership already in place in K.C. Andy Reid is no stranger to troubled characters or questionable personalities in his tenure as a head coach, but the tale currently told around Antonio Brown is a level of drama all its own—an unexplainable saga with zero logic involved. It’d be one thing if Brown were clearly manipulating some situation toward a desirable end. Instead, he’s a mercurial personality who undermines his own credibility (and pocketbook).
On the field, the idea of adding Brown to the Chiefs sounds straight out of an unfair Madden sim. Tyreek Hill, Sammy Watkins, and Travis Kelce already form the NFL’s best trio of pass catchers. LeSean McCoy just joined a crowded backfield with Damien Williams, Darwin Thompson and Darrel Williams. Mecole Hardman is a downfield rookie ready to be unleashed and, of course, there are other wideouts to contribute as well—the likes of Byron Pringle and Demarcus Robinson.
Adding Brown sounds great, because in one sense, he is a Hall of Fame talent. But the Chiefs wouldn’t be able to just sign the talent of Antonio Brown. They, or any other franchise, would have to sign the player. As Brown himself recently said, he’s more than just a football player. That’s the unfortunate part.
Any general manager, team owner or head coach willing to import such an obvious sideshow deserves the circus of chaotic behavior, fractured leadership, poisonous culture and overwhelming media coverage that comes with it. It definitely doesn’t make sense, even as a football move, for the Kansas City Chiefs with so many mouths to feed.
Any team willing to bite is going to regret it—just like Oakland and Pittsburgh before them.