Antonio Brown returned to the football field last Thursday night, catching passes and going through individual drills prior to Oakland's preseason game against the Arizona Cardinals. Brown, wearing his new, league-approved helmet after he lost his grievance against the league to wear his old helmet, did not play as he continues to recover from his feet injury. 

After Brown missed another practice on Sunday while protesting the league's helmet policy that has prevented the wide receiver from wearing the same type of helmet that he's worn his entire career, Mayock met with the the media on Sunday to discuss Brown's absence. The GM didn't waste time or pull punches, delivering a rather emphatic message to the missing wide receiver. 

"You all know that A.B. is not here today. So here's the bottom line. He's pretty upset about the helmet issue," Mayock said. "We have supported that. We appreciate that. But at this point, we've pretty much exhausted all avenues of relief. So from our perspective, it's time for him to be all in or all out. So we're hoping he's back soon."

After Thursday's game, Brown told reporters that -- contrary to last week's reports -- he never threatened to retire if the league forced him to wear a new helmet. 

"I hate when my mom call me, and my dad call me [and ask about] retirement," Brown said. "Where you get that from? I never said that." 

Brown was also asked about the negativity that has continued to surround him over the past year. Brown had a contentious moment with members of Pittsburgh's media last summer over reports of Brown's OTA instances. Following Pittsburgh's Week 2 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, Brown posted his infamous "trade me" tweet while skipping a mandatory team meeting that Monday. Brown then had another contentious meeting with the media upon his return to the team later that week. 

After reportedly getting angry with Steelers' quarterback Ben Roethlisberger during practice, Brown left the team's facility during the week of Pittsburgh's Week 17 matchup against Cincinnati. He failed to properly communicate with team officials before showing up for the Steelers' final home game expecting to play. Mike Tomlin told him at the stadium that, while he could not play after failing to properly communicate with the team, he could stand on the sideline in support of his teammates. Brown was on the field for team warmups but left Heinz Field at halftime of Pittsburgh's eventual victory. 

Brown requested a trade from Pittsburgh shortly after the 2018 regular season ended. He then openly criticized Roethlisberger, Tomlin, GM Kevin Colbert and Steelers president Art Rooney II before lashing out at former teammate JuJu Smith-Schuster after he had already been traded to Oakland. 

The controversy appears to have followed Brown to Oakland. His mysterious foot injury kept him away from his new team for most of training camp, marking the second straight training camp that Brown has failed to participate in the majority of his team's practices. Reports have also surfaced about Brown coming late to team meetings and not being fully engaged when he is at meetings. 

"For me, as an athlete, you gotta have tough skin," said Brown, who is still among the league's most popular players. "People are gonna always talk and try to bring you down. I just think it's tough for the people that love me, the people know me and actually have to hear when they know the type of person I am and what I stand for."

Brown did offer a smile while asking the media on hand Thursday night to do him a favor. 

"If you guys could calm [the stories] down, man, it's really distracting my family," Brown said with a chuckle. "So you guys could help me out with all that stuff. I don't mind, but to my family, they get really stressed out." 

Brown's new coach, Jon Gruden, doesn't appear to be stressed out when it comes to his star receiver. Gruden told reporters earlier this week that, despite Brown's continued foot issue, he expects Brown to be ready to go with Oakland faces the Denver Broncos in Week 1 of the regular season. 

"We'll work him back in," Gruden said of Brown. "Obviously, it's great to have him back. We've had a pretty good understanding, in spite of what people think, about what's going to happen. Now we're ready to get rolling."