James Harrison has an idea for Antonio Brown: Stop it. Now.
Speaking on today's episode of Undisputed, former Steelers star linebacker Harrison weighed in on Brown's current helmet controversy, making a strong case in the process.
"Right now, I think it's time for him to give it up," Harrison began. "I love AB, but right now, everything is looking real selfish, real 'me, me.' And, like Coach [Mike Tomlin] used to say, you're throwing rocks at a tank right now."
To Harrison, Brown's actions can't end well for him — not when he's trying to go head-to-head with the NFL.
"At the end of the day, if the NFL, Roger Goodell, decides that a sock fine is $100,000, that's what it goes to," Harrison said. "That's the collective bargaining agreement that they signed. He has the power to change anything that he wants to at that point in time. You go back to when they started changing the rules for helmet-to-helmet [hits]. The first fine was $15,000, right? All of a sudden, it was $75 [thousand] for me, $50 [thousand] for another guy, because we — not us; the Steelers voted 'no' — gave him that power in the collective bargaining agreement to be able to do whatever he wants."
That fact alone tells Harrison it's time for Brown to give it up, but then the retired linebacker took it a step further. Not only is Brown fighting a losing battle, he's hurting his team — the same team that just traded for him and reworked a massive $50 million contract with $30 million guaranteed for him in the process.
"So right now, I think he needs to sit back and really think about what he's doing," Harrison said. "You're hurting the team about something the NFL is doing. That would be like, when I was getting fined, I would say, 'You know what? I'm not coming to practice. I'm not doing any of this because the NFL is fining me.' I'm not going to hurt my team and teammates, the guys that are there for me. He just got a huge contract. Right now is the time to go out there and shine. You got nothing to worry about. You got guaranteed money. If you were to get hurt or anything, all your money is still coming. And that's when you go out there and ball. So right now, I believe it's time to give it up and just let it go."
As of now, Brown has filed a new grievance against the NFL and is not giving in to their demands that he wear the approved helmet.
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