His agent was probably barking in his ear all day yesterday "You ****in idiot! They have every right now to take your guaranteed money and turn it into fairy dust!!"
The only way it could get juicier at this point... even now after this apology, raiders still claim breach of contract, and he has to pack his bags without a dime from them. He would really lose it, like state mandated institutionalization lose it.
Love it. Suspend him game 1. And dangle that ability to take away all guaranteed money over his head all season.
If he's on the roster on Sunday, $15MM of it is guaranteed. The only way to get out of that, from my understanding, is to cut him by tomorrow? I assume a suspended player is still considered to be on the roster.
Forget the scores. Players get tired and unstructured on defense too. It's the product that suckerood. How about the results. Playoff teams lost at an alarming rate week 1 in 2018 indicating that the NFL essentially put out a clown show. Saints, Texans, Seahawks, Bears, Cowboys, Colts, and Chargers all lost week 1. plus 800 flags in the first 3 weeks. Are you kidding me. And then you have the Steelers, Falcons, and Titans sucking against abysmal teams like the Dolphins when they really could have used what should have been an easy win. It was just poor product and execution.
Raiders and AB did the right thing. It was much ado about nothing really. A verbal scuffle and a tweet. Easily forgotten. That said, the real question is did this mend anything. AB had to do it to secure his money. So there's still that little hanging cloud. Is he really that humble, or is something still lingering. Cooler heads appear to have prevailed for once.
AB forgot hell be living in vegas next year. can't do that without this extra $ hes making by having oakland be at his service. boy is that going to be a show a year from now based on this preview
Lol Texans lost to the Pats and Chargers lost to the Chiefs. You mention the Steelers, Falcons and Titans like they were good teams, none of them made the playoffs. Also Falcons lost to the Eagles week 1.And sure the Pats blame their week 14 loss to the Dolphins on poor product and execution, but that had nothing to do with what they did or didn’t do in the preseason. And upsets aren’t necessarily a poor product, think you could even argue it’s a better product then favorites winning week after week.
So he either recorded a private telephone conversation or he hired an impersonator to do an instagram video?
I'm not sure I an express how brilliant that video was. Give it an Oscar. He not only showed how decent a human being John Gruden is, but at the exact same time was able to extract out the exact issue that he is having with Gruden and the Raiders and he let them fall on their own sword, that he's a human so treat him like it. Well done. And entertaining whether or not you agree with his actions or position. It's a commentary on what is happening in the workplace. Right or wrong, it got right to the point.
Also, keep in mind recording the call is legal. Think it's the use of the recorded call that would be illegal. But you also need to consider that the agent orchestrated the call, and so it's possible as an agent it's a business call ( not a private call per say ), so their may have been agreement to record and use, and additionally he may have been on the call as a third party, hard to tell, so I don't know the legal ramifications of that. It won't matter of course, all is being let be, but would be interesting to hear what the lawyers have to say on all of that. Tom Brady just burns his phones.
I guess I didn't get it then, how anything the org. has done that could possibly be considered as treating him less than a human. Also, PSJ what is his position exactly, and which actions specifically could possibly be up for agreement/disagreement (I mean, are there any of his specific behaviors throughout this that you or anyone you know, might possibly agree with)? To me ti comes off as completely disconnected from reality- the only positive to me, about that video, was production quality and music etc. But watching it under these circumstances, it came off as complete nonsense, like an SNL digital short. I'm willing to accept I'm missing something obvious here... I agree about Gruden. He did a great job throughout, saying all the right things there to try and wrangle him back into reality. I would LOVE to hear the first part of that conversation, between gruden and his agent, before they 3rd partied AB into that call lol.
What AB is saying is that the Raiders said they were going to back him on the helmet issue and then they fine him and send him a warning letter for not showing up over the helmet issue. Most everyone would be ticked off in his shoes. He see's that as insulting. That's human nature. Whether each of us sees that as right or wrong, that's his perception of the situation. And he would not be alone. But it's even more than that. When you are elite at anything, a leader, and you get a warning letter over not showing up to a meeting, you will find it insulting given that you have demonstrated your skill and commitment over a long career. It would be like fining and warning Obama for not showing up to a meeting because you told him you support his need to take his dogs to the clinic, but then a day later saying we will take part of your salary for going to the clinic, and don't ever do it again. You just don't do it, because what are you gaining from it other than pissing off a leader. Obama is going to make up for it and be ready for the next meeting. You trust him. Treating him like a human and not an object. That is what this is all about. And the Raiders are starting to see that.