Antonio Brown attempts to clear the air on his departure from the Raiders

Former NFL receiver Antonio Brown is attempting to clear the air on how his departure from the Oakland Raiders went down. The problem? There are some fallacies in his recollection.

Joining Tyreek Hill‘s It Need to be Said podcast, Brown talked about how he saved the organization $30 million in exchange to be released so he could play for a championship contender. He said it was out of respect for team owner Mark Davis.

“Mark Davis stood up on a limb for me,” Brown said. “As an honorable man, I told him, ‘Like, yo, I don’t want to be a Raider.’ Save him his money. I handle business respectably.”

It sounds like a strange decision for the Raiders, right? But Brown doubled down on how the agreement saved the team money.

“It saved him money,” Brown said. “If I get on the roster the first opening day of the game, he owes me $30 million. He made a deal to let me go, but no one ever knew that.

“So I got to the Raiders, and I’m like, ‘Yo, Mark, I love everything about it here. I love money, but it’s not championship culture, it’s not the environment I want to be in. I love you, I appreciate the $30 million, but I already got 30. Not to be arrogant, but I got it. I don’t need to hustle you.’”

But there are problems with Brown’s account of the story.

Why Brown’s account of Raiders exit is wrong

Brown’s explanation of what happened in Oakland paints the receiver in a pretty positive light. But NBC Sports pointed to some of the reasons why his story can’t really be believed.

Per the report, the Raiders voided Brown’s guaranteed money before his release became a topic of conversation. The team wanted to cut that deal because of the receiver’s poor behavior during the offseason and in training camp.

Additionally, Brown filed a grievance against the Raiders in an attempt to retain the $30 million. So, if he was trying to save the organization and Davis money, he did a really bad job of it.

Along with trying to explain away his exit from Oakland, Brown also revealed what happened when he left MetLife Stadium in a January 2022 game between the Jets and Buccaneers. He said he wasn’t targeted as much as he was promised, despite playing through injury.

But now we’re starting to wonder if that’s the real story, too.