Antonio Brown's cryotherapy mishap is one of the strangest NFL injuries ever

Senior writer

Wed, Aug 7, 2019, 5:14 PM

Oakland Raiders receiver Antonio Brown has been out of practice due to issues with his feet. He posted since-deleted pictures of his wrecked feet and needless to say, it wasn’t pretty.

And the explanation for what happened is batty.

Chris Simms of NBC Sports reported that Brown suffered frostbite on his feet after “entering a cryotherapy machine without the proper footwear.” That seemed hard to believe, but NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport confirmed it through team sources.

[Join or create a 2019 Yahoo Fantasy Football league for free today]

If you thought Brown was done making weird headlines just because he was not with the Pittsburgh Steelers anymore, think again.

Antonio Brown has been out of practice

Brown’s injured feet were a focus of the first episode of this season’s “Hard Knocks” on HBO, though the cryotherapy accident wasn’t discussed. It seems that will be a topic in next week’s episode.

Brown has been out of practice, and that’s clearly not the best news. The Raiders traded for Brown over the offseason and gave him a raise. They expected the future Hall of Famer to be the centerpiece of their offense. But instead of him making plays in training camp, the focus has been on a truly bizarre injury that has kept him out and presumably could linger a while.

Somewhere, the Steelers are more pleased with their decision to trade Brown.

Brown’s injury is a weird one

We’ve heard of weird NFL injuries before. Redskins quarterback Gus Frerotte hurt his neck head-butting a wall after scoring a touchdown. Cardinals kicker Bill Gramatica injured his ACL while jumping up to celebrate a field goal. Jaguars punter Chris Hanson hurt his leg swinging an axe in the locker room.

Put Brown’s injury alongside any of them. The Raiders presumably knew they were in for some drama with Brown, whose Steelers career ended in a mess of unwanted headlines. Maybe they figured Brown would bring some attention with some mean tweets toward his old Steelers teammates, or he’d start a verbal war with Ben Roethlisberger.

But not this. The Raiders’ star receiver is sitting out in camp, and it’ll be a while before the team can laugh about this situation.