Analysis: Could Vontaze Burfict end up with Raiders and Antonio Brown?
This is too good to be true.
Probably. Because I’m guessing it’ll never happen.
Oh. But I wish it could.
The Bengals have released Pittsburgh’s public enemy No. 1: Vontaze Burfict. You know. The venomous linebacker who did this to Antonio Brown — when Pittsburgh still loved Antonio Brown.
— Andrew Byrne (@AndrewByrne23) March 18, 2019
Word from NFL.com is that one of the teams interested in signing Burfict is … the Raiders.
On the day Vontaze Burfict is released and available, worth noting: The #Raiders are already doing work on LBs, hosting FAs Manti Teo and Aaron Lynch, source said. Oakland may have interest in Burfict, too.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 18, 2019
The Raiders signing Burfict? In theory, that makes perfect sense. Oakland is the team known for being the NFL’s “criminal element.” The team where malpracticing veterans go to rehabilitate their images.
And fail.
All the time.
Burfict is the personification of the Silver and Black. He’s been suspended in each of the last three seasons.
But you can’t possibly put him in the same locker room as Brown. Not after the whole Oakland organization has hitched its wagon to that star by trading for A.B. last week.
Can you?
Remember, when the former Steelers wideout repeatedly screamed “Karma!” in the locker room after JuJu Smith-Schuster cleaned Burfict’s clock in 2017?
Art.
That time Juju ended #Burfict pic.twitter.com/Km8kxHnXAl— ? (@Interpolyester) March 18, 2019
Brown went on to say Burfict “had it coming” because of the hit to the head he received in the 2015 playoffs, pictured above.
Now the Raiders may want to put those two together, in the same uniform, before Brown even takes a snap as “Mr. Big Chest — West Coast?”
Twitter seems to share in my skepticism about that working out.
That'll gel real well with AB and Burfict on the same team... pic.twitter.com/m66V4xbqvc
— Dallas Busse (@busse50) March 18, 2019
Wait... Vontaze and AB could be on the same team??? pic.twitter.com/nUyHErTEFx
— Shad (@MrShadM) March 18, 2019
Of course they are.... pic.twitter.com/0MZhlaouMa
— Lifeinaffw (@lifeinaffw) March 18, 2019
@Joeybv @jorozco31 pic.twitter.com/bfhZB5rxBD
— Eric Beltran (@Ebeltran77) March 18, 2019
— EVERYTHING MAYOCK FAULT #Tangibles2020 ♠☠️?? (@RaiderACE562) March 18, 2019
I may just cover Oakland’s training camp instead of going to Latrobe. If the Raiders weren’t the favorites to be the hosts of “Hard Knocks” on HBO, they will be if this move actually happens.
Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via X. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.
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