Baltimore Ravens debates: Should the team go after Antonio Brown?

Chris Schisler says: It’s complicated but I see the logic in the move.

This is something I keep going back and forth on. There is a reason we keep talking about making a move to sign a very unlikable player. It’s because Antonio Brown is good. I grant you he’s hit rock bottom harder than just about any other high profile NFL player. I grant you that there are risks and he may be a little rusty at first. The cons to this potential signing are long; which is why I believe this will never be more than a hypothetical to get us through the offseason news cycle.

I will not paint a picture that doesn’t include Brown’s off the field antics and cringe worthy life decisions. I’m not going to pretend he hasn’t been a destructive locker room presence. The negatives are known. Let’s at least give this some thought instead of just writing it off.

From a purely football standpoint I get the logic of the signing, The Ravens youth at the receiver position is alarming. While you don’t sign Brown to be a mentor, he at least has a track record of production in the NFL. From a talent standpoint, we know what we will get out of Brown on the football field. He was arguably the best wide receiver in the NFL before everything imploded with the Pittsburgh Steelers. If he shows up in shape, it’s hard to imagine him not helping the offense. The Ravens need a big time play-maker that Lamar Jackson can lean on other than Mark Andrews and Marquise Brown.

Signing Brown won’t hurt the development of Devin Duvernay and James Proche. If anything, signing Brown would prevent the Ravens from leaning too much on their rookie talent. If the Ravens sign Brown there is still room for Miles Boykin to become a play-maker. The last time I checked, NFL offenses can’t have too much fire power. Pairing Marquise Brown with his cousin could be a very potent combination.

One of the advantages to signing Antonio Brown would be that Jackson could really make some magic with him. Brown is used to the keep the play alive scrambling of Ben Roethlisberger. In fact, when Roethlisberger extended the play it seemed like Brown became more dangerous. Jackson can play to that even better. Brown is a player who can catch the football in just about any angle and he’ll go up and get the 50/50 balls. He may only be 5’10” but he is one of the most gifted NFL athletes and he plays bigger than his size. Brown is a back shoulder catch machine. To make it simple, Jackson could use a receiver whose talent makes things easier.

People also have to remember that the risk is actually not that big. Brown is a player looking for one last shot. He won’t even be afforded half of a strike against him.

The Ravens aren’t going to pay the huge cost of being wrong on Brown that the Raiders did. Eric DeCosta doesn’t have to pay Brown much more than the veteran minimum. The Ravens are a good organization. If they do their due diligence and things check out on the legal front with Brown, interest is certainly justifiable. The NFL world didn’t stop respecting Bill Belichick or Robert Kraft just because things didn’t work with Brown and the New England Patriots.

What you can learn from the failed experiment of the Patriots is that you have to have a line of where enough is enough. You have to be willing to cut ties with Brown and you have to decide what would constitute a last straw. He’s not going to break the bank and the Ravens will give themselves an out. If the most likely bad outcome is that Baltimore’s division rivals can laugh and say “I told you so,” the most likely reward outweighs the most likely risk.

Signing Brown may not feel right. It may not rest well with you. That’s fair. This just seems like a chance for a redemption story. The Ravens could be what gets Brown on the right tack. Signing Brown would be the Ravens giving him a chance to take control of his life and to start writing a different story for himself. He may or may not deserve a third chance, but if the Ravens don’t think he’s a lost cause, they aren’t necessarily wrong to give it to him.

I have a ton of confidence in John Harbaugh. I believe in the culture of the Baltimore Ravens. What the Ravens have is too stable for Brown to destroy. If you trust the leadership of this team, than you believe that this move won’t mess up the chemistry on the team. This is especially true if you don’t let Brown push the envelope.

Trust Lamar Jackson. Trust Mark Ingram. Trust Ronnie Stanley, Matt Judon, Calais Campbell, and Brandon Williams. Trust your leaders. Brown knows he has to be good, and not just at catching passes. With conditions and contingencies I would get the move if the Ravens made it.

It’s a tough call. Ultimately the risk isn’t as high as it feels like it is. Ultimately it would be adding a receiver who had a Pro Bowl season in 2018. It makes sense. I’m not sure if I would ever quite feel comfortable with it, but focusing just on the money and football side of this, it seems like a chance to get a potential star player at a discount. If I was the Ravens I would be very tempted to give him a one year contract, one year at a time. If Brown can work with this (which is an if) the Ravens can work with Brown.