3 reasons Antonio Brown to Ravens never was in the cards
Well, Antonio Brown has had an eventful couple of months. He is the newest New England Patriot. Here is why Brown coming to the Ravens was never going to happen.
1. Signing Antonio Brown would be bad business:
The Baltimore Ravens are thought of to be a franchise with stability and continuity. On paper John Harbaugh would have been an ideal coach for Brown. Harbaugh has shown time and time again that he’s a player’s coach. He typically has a good rapport with his players and he’s never been one to be pushed around. The Ravens theoretically could have given Brown the structure and the circumstances to stay on track. That being said bringing in Brown wouldn’t be a Ravens like move.
No matter what you think about Brown, the cloud of drama around him is an awful lot for a team to absorb. Brown was traded to the Oakland Raiders, became a firestorm of controversy and ultimately forced the team into a nightmare situation. Brown forced the Raiders to cut him, they just wanted to get this over with. Brown put himself above the Raiders organization and he got his way. The Patriots made the only reasonable kind of deal they could make to get Brown.
They gave him a one year contract. If it works out the Patriots will want to re-sign him to a big contract. Bill Belichick may be the greatest coach of this generation but Brown is the greatest pain in the neck that football has to offer. New England may get themselves in the same mess that the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Raiders found themselves in. Every step of the way Brown has gotten what he wanted. Why would Brown change? What locker room dynamic is so strong that Brown can’t go off the reservation? Signing Brown makes sense from a football standpoint. From a team building perspective it’s bad business.
The Ravens and the Steelers may be bitter rivals, but Steve Bisciotti has always admired the way Pittsburgh runs their football team. Ravens fans may have wanted Brown because it would be a great way to get at Steelers fans. The Ravens as an organization would likely be very wary of any player who the Steelers had trouble working things out with. Signing Brown wouldn’t have been a move in line with what we know about the Ravens.