Could Russell Wilson and Antonio Brown really co-exist on Seahawks?
By Mike Luciano
The Seahawks rumors involving Antonio Brown continue to swirl.
Antonio Brown, having shown little repentance or remorse for his emotionally scattershot actions in the 2019 season, is still trying everything he can to get back onto an NFL roster in 2020
Brown is trying to convince some team to take a chance on him after playing in just one game last year, and Russell Wilson’s Seattle Seahawks might just be crazy enough to give him another chance.
For years, Wilson and the Seahawks leaned on a subpar group of receivers led by Doug Baldwin. The Stanford product kept coming back every year because of how he easily created separation at the line of scrimmage and how he was able to become a force in the red zone. Tyler Lockett assumed the No. 1 receiver role last year and he topped 1,000 yards for the first time in his career.
Schematically, Brown would be a great fit in Seattle, as the NFL might not have a single receiver that can match his ability to take the top off of the defense, separate on quick hitters, and kill teams whenever he gets inside the 20-yard line.
Could Antonio Brown mesh well with the Seahawks?
However, if the scheme fits were all that mattered, Brown would be on a team right now. He spent most of his career with a Hall of Fame quarterback (albeit a prickly one that rubs people the wrong way) in Ben Roethlisberger and a Super Bowl champion in Mike Tomlin and he left Pittsburgh after detonating a nuke in the locker room with his behavior.
He moved to Oakland to play for another Super Bowl winner in Jon Gruden who welcomes colorful characters, and he was cut before he even played a game. Even Bill Belichick, who loves to take troubled players and make them conform to the Patriot Way, only lasted a week with him.
Wilson is a great leader and Pete Carroll can manage loud personalities, but Brown waved off directives from Tomlin and Belichick, so why would Carroll be any different in his eyes? It doesn’t take a genius to see how friction with Wilson and Carroll could arise.
If the Seahawks sign Brown, Carroll and Wilson will have to make sure that they can manage personalities better than Tomlin and Belichick.