The Antonio Brown helmet saga has been so crazy this offseason that even his former teammates are paying close attention to the situation, and one of those former teammates decided to weigh in on all the drama this week.
New York Jets running back Le'Veon Bell, who spent five seasons with Brown in Pittsburgh, gave his take on the Brown situation during an interview with Newsday, and let's just say that even Bell seems a little shocked by what's going on.
On one hand, Bell totally understands why Brown wants to keep his old helmet. Once a player finds a helmet that fits perfectly, they don't ever want to give it up.
"As a skill player, it's kind of hard to change your helmet, especially when you've been playing so long with it," Bell said. "I understand where he's coming from, but at the same time, it's a rule, so you have to change the helmet."
In an effort to get his helmet back, Brown has gone to desperate measures: Not only has he skipped multiple practices, but he's even threatened to retire from football. If you think those tactics sound crazy, you're not the only one, Bell said he doesn't "really agree" with the strategy that Brown has been employing.
"Him fighting for it, him not showing up for practice," Bell said, "I don't really agree with that."
The good news for the Jets is that they're never going to have to go through any sort of helmet situation with Bell. Although Bell has caused some drama in his career -- he sat out all of 2018 in hopes of getting a new contract with the Steelers -- he won't be skipping any games over the helmet issue and that's because he's already found a helmet that he likes.
"I changed my helmet my second year [with the Steelers], and I've been playing with a certain helmet my whole career It was hard to do, but I knew this was coming eventually, so I might as well change my helmet now," Bell said.
As for Brown, after nearly four weeks of drama, his helmet saga might actually be coming to an end this week. The receiver has filed a second grievance over his helmet and the league is expected to rule on the issue by Friday.
