Antonio Brown Denies He Was Ever Talking About Quitting and Has Now Hit for the Diva WR Cycle

One week ago:

One week ago:

Sunday:

Today:

And that, my friends, is how it’s done. All you aspiring high-maintenance, me-first, team-killing, coach-torturing, self-absorbed crackpot diva wideouts, take note. This is a master craftsman working at the top of his game. I used to think the best ever at playing the Attention Game was mid-2000s Terrell Owens and no one would ever be able to make himself the center of the news cycle the way T.O. did. But now I’m not so sure that Brown hasn’t caught up to him or passed him.

It’s a vastly different media world than it was even then. And Mr. Big Chest has found the cheat codes for making the news be all about him for the new age. Like Owens, he famously beefed with his quarterback. Undermined his team. Shot his way out of town. Demanded to be the highest paid at his position and got it. And now is destroying his new team from within. But these past two weeks with the feet frostbite, talking about retiring over the new helmet, asking if people would love him if he retired over the new helmet, talking about lawsuits over the new helmet, and then denying he ever had a problem with the new helmet? That’s some Grand Master-level game playing. That’s having the cheat code that puts you into God Mode.

And to think, not only are we just halfway through August, we’ve got three episodes left of “Hard Knocks” to watch Brown’s shenanigans take years off Jon Gruden’s life. He’s the best thing that could’ve happened to a post-“Game of Thrones” HBO and to the football world and I can’t wait to see what he’ll come up with next. He’ll probably never win another playoff game, but he’s making a strong case for the Diva Wide Receiver Hall of Fame.