Tim Benz: Did Antonio Brown break another NFL rule?
Stop me if you’ve heard this before.
Antonio Brown may have broken another rule.
How come you didn’t stop me?
The volatile former Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver doesn’t like to be told what kind of helmets or cleats to wear, when to show up for work, when he should pay for things or how fast he can drive.
He also seems to think the media access rules don’t apply to him either.
Brown didn’t speak at all during his first week as a New England Patriot. Nor did he address reporters after the team trounced Miami 43-0 on Sunday.
According to The Boston Globe, Brown was out of the locker room, with the name plate taken down, before the media gained access.
Antonio Brown is out of the locker room, his locker cleared out and the name plate taken down, before media was allowed into the locker room
— Ben Volin (@BenVolin) September 15, 2019
That’s a no-no according to NFL policy. Via ProFootballTalk.com, teams “must ensure that name plates with players’ names and numbers are left in position until after the locker room has cleared of media.”
Also, the NFL operations codes mandate that “Players must be available to the media following every game and regularly during the practice week as required under league rules and their contracts… It is not permissible for any player or any group of players to boycott the media.”
At Heinz Field this week, Vince Williams and Sean Davis both left the locker room before the media was allowed in. However, they had been treated for in-game injuries.
Donte Moncrief left early, too, without a reported injury. But I’m just going to assume that was an accident because he dropped his copy of the rules manual.
We’ll see if anything comes of this. I imagine it’d be a fine at most. And based on what we read in Sports Illustrated this week, Brown will probably refuse to pay it.
Or he’ll just break wind in the face of the guy who comes to collect it.
Antonio Brown allegedly farted in his doctor's face https://t.co/5GjK1DL2IS pic.twitter.com/pukSitOqcf
— New York Post (@nypost) September 16, 2019
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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