The Raiders are taking a huge risk in acquiring Antonio Brown, but not for the reason you think
Antonio Brown is great, but will be able to defy a dire trend for top wideouts? By Adam Kilgore Adam Kilgore Reporter covering national sports Email Bio Follow March 10 at 11:21 AM The consternation surrounding Antonio Brown has mainly concerned his off-field antics, his galactic talent contrasting with daffy behavior. He went AWOL before a crucial Week 17 game.
Given the money they paid and the draft capital sacrificed, the Raiders acquired Brown to be a 31-year-old No. 1 wide receiver. In today’s NFL, 31-year-old No. 1 wide receivers do not exist.While Brown created headaches for the Steelers, his performance and work habits were never in question. He wanted to be great, he worked to be great, and he was great. Brown was inarguably the best wide receiver of the past half-decade, with apologies to Julio Jones and DeAndre Hopkins.
That trend is only growing stronger. Larry Fitzgerald and Jordy Nelson are the only active wide receivers with a 1,000-yard season at age 31 or beyond. Nelson fell off a cliff at age 32, catching 53 balls for 482 yards in his final season in Green Bay, then gaining 739 yards on 63 catches last year, his first as a Raider. Fitzgerald is a statistical outlier and a football marvel, but he also moved to the slot late in his career, remaining Arizona’s No. 1 option in a nontraditional fashion.
So, then, the Raiders are clearly betting on Brown to snap the trend. If you had to choose one player to do it, Brown might be where you start. Brown has been an outlier his entire career, in both his athletic qualities and his production, and so it stands to reason he’s a strong candidate to defy the aging curve.
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