Oakland Raiders: 3 Reasons team is better off without Antonio Brown

The Oakland Raiders will have some hard choices to make in the coming days as Antonio Brown and Jon Gruden may be heading for a breakup. Here are three reasons they will be better without him.

With an Antonio Brown suspension reportedly pending, the Oakland Raiders look to be in a place where no one, especially Jon Gruden, saw just a few weeks ago. Or did they?

In the ever-changing storyline that is AB and the Silver and Black, general manager Mike Mayock and the Raiders organization are poised to offer both a suspension and a referendum on where they stand on the pass-catching malcontent. From bad feet to the helmet saga, a consensus is growing that Brown and football are no longer a tandem partner.

For Oakland, better to find out now than find out later. The Raiders, even without Brown, are a team with a lot of upside after an offseason where progress that is tangible. We know he won’t play in Week 1 but he may never play with the Raiders at all.

Quarterback Derek Carr will miss the potential of what Brown could have brought this season. All that said, a solid draft and smart free agency will help Oakland to be better than the dismal 4-12 of 2018.

Sure, AB brought the potential for a lot of big plays. In Pittsburgh, it’s become clear his antics were worth the production on the field. When he became too much to deal with, a deal became easy.

For Oakland, fans may be left to wonder what could have been. While they likely weren’t going to vault into playoff contention, his presence would have made him a point of occupation for opposing defenses. So what now? Is Oakland better off without the distraction?

Here are three reasons the Raiders will be better off without Antonio Brown.