New Oakland Raiders receiver Antonio Brown is off to a rocky start at training camp with his new team.
According to Chris Simms of Pro Football Talk, Brown is dealing with “frostbitten feet” due to not wearing the proper footwear in a cryogenic therapy chamber.
On the season premiere of HBO’s Hard Knocks, Brown was shown working out with a personal trainer, but was favoring his feet. He’s yet to practice with his new team this training camp due to the injury.
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport also shed some light on Brown’s situation this week.
“As far as the backstory — what led to this — what I was told, talking to a couple Raiders people, basically the story that they are saying is that Antonio Brown used a cryogenic chamber without proper footwear and that is why his feet ended up the way they did,” Rapoport said on NFL Network. “Certainly, some other questions medically, for his feet, how they ended up looking like that, how he trained through feet which are so badly injured he really can’t continue to train. A lot of questions there. But at the very least, that is the story they are saying. Still day-to-day. Unclear when Antonio Brown is going get back out at practice.”
Oakland acquired Brown earlier this offseason from the Pittsburgh Steelers. He led the league in touchdowns with 15 in 2018, adding in 1,297 receiving yards. He has totaled over 1,000 receiving yards in six straight seasons, leading the league twice in that span.
Over at Bovada, Brown is currently +1800 to lead the league in receiving touchdowns and +1600 to lead the league in receiving yards.
The Raiders, who are preparing for their final season in Oakland before a move to Las Vegas, are building their new core around Brown. They had three first round picks in April’s draft, using them on defensive lineman Clelin Ferrell, safety Johnathan Abram and running back Josh Jacobs.
The Raiders open their season at home against the Denver Broncos on Sept. 9.