The Vikings won’t be seeing Antonio Brown in Week 3 after all

If you’re into individual matchups when looking at NFL games, one that may have caught your eye was the matchup between Minnesota Vikings cornerback Xavier Rhodes and brand new Oakland Raiders wide receiver Antonio Brown, who the Silver and Black acquired from the Pittsburgh Steelers in a trade this offseason.

Well. . .that’s not happening anymore.

After what can only be described as one of the strangest sagas the National Football League has seen in some time, the Raiders have officially released Brown without him ever stepping on the field for a regular season game.

While I’m not going to attempt to summarize the entire thing here, the denouement of the entire thing came when the Raiders fined Brown for conduct detrimental to the team for his conduct during the preseason. Those fines voided all of the guaranteed money in the contract extension he signed with the Raiders after the trade. . .somewhere in the neighborhood of $30 million. . .and Brown demanded his release from the Raiders. They have obliged his request.

Brown, as a vested veteran, doesn’t have to clear waivers, and will become a free agent able to sign with anyone as of 3:00 PM Central time this afternoon.

For more coverage of the Antonio Brown situation, be sure to check out our friends over at Silver and Black Pride, our home for Oakland Raiders football.