Antonio Brown and the 49ers Need Each Other Now More than Ever
The San Francisco 49ers are coming off their second Super Bowl loss in franchise history. It has been 25 years since the team has been crowned champion, and the organization is experiencing their longest Super Bowl drought ever.
For the first time since 2012 (Jim Harbaugh’s second year), the 49ers are largely regarded as one of the top championship contenders. There are high expectations going into the season and the pressure is on the front office and Jimmy Garoppolo to bring home a Lombardi trophy this season.
Yesterday, news broke that Deebo Samuel, the best wide receiver on the team, suffered a Jones fracture in his foot. With this particular injury, there is no clear-cut timeline as to when Samuel will return. Best case scenario is that he is available by Week 1 of the regular season. Worst case scenario - well - that's tough to say.
Trent Taylor experienced a Jones fracture last year, and had an extremely rough outcome. Taylor needed five surgeries and had to battle infection on his road to recovery. Now, that was Taylor -- Samuel may have a completely different experience.
Nonetheless, the 49ers should prepare themselves to not have Samuel available for the first handful of weeks of the season. Looking at the schedule, as long as the 49ers have Samuel back by October, they should be able to overcome the injury with minimal impact on their postseason and Super Bowl hopes. October is when the schedule starts to heat up.
It is unknown what the 49ers roster will look like in 2021. George Kittle may price himself out of the team’s budget, and Richard Sherman will be a free agent. However, we know that this 49ers team right in front of us has all the makings of a championship team. They must capitalize now.
With the adjustments to the playoff seeding, the road to the Super Bowl is harder than ever. Teams seeded second have to win four games to be crowned champions, as opposed to just three in years past. The shortest road to the Super Bowl is by earning the No. 1 seed in your conference.
In a 16 game season, every single regular season win and loss carries huge weight in relation to that team’s playoff and championship hopes. Losing a game or two or three because of inconsistent wide receiver play definitely could hinder the 49ers season.
Even though the 49ers are a run-first team, it is inevitable that they’ll have to throw more this upcoming season. Opposing defensive coordinators are going to dare Garoppolo and the pass catchers to beat them, as they’ll be focusing on the dominant ground game.
Kendrick Bourne is set for a larger work load, and has been one of the more consistent 49ers receivers in recent memory. He’ll have more opportunities to begin the season than ever before. After Bourne though, there is nothing but ten question marks at the receiver position.
Brandon Aiyuk, Jalen Hurd, Dante Pettis, Trent Taylor, Jauan Jennings, Travis Benjamin, Richie James Jr., Shawn Poindexter, Chris Finke, and Chris Thompson. Those are the 49ers remaining receivers, and all of them are surrounded by questions.
Of course, they all have potential and a handful of them very well could pan out. If the 49ers were a rebuilding team or a team one or two years away from the Super Bowl, it would be very exciting to watch this young receiver group blossom.
However, that's not where the franchise currently stands. The moment to win the Super Bowl is now. This is not the time to rely on unproven wide receivers for any amount of time. Samuel, despite only entering his sophomore year, was the leader at the position and brought comfort, consistency, and stability. With the Jones fracture, that has completely been compromised.
Enter Antonio Brown
Since the end of the 2018 season, Brown has been quite the spectacle to follow. Brown’s run-ins with the law and his own personal issues have been well documented during the past 18 months. That should not be ignored, but neither should the fact that he is a Hall of Fame caliber receiver who is currently unemployed.
Over the course of his NFL career, Brown has played in 131 regular season games, starting in 103 of them. He’s accumulated 837 receptions for 11,263 yards and 75 touchdowns.
To put that in perspective, that is more than every single 49ers’ wide receiver and tight end combined.
George Kittle, Deebo Samuel, Kendrick Bourne, Dante Pettis, Trent Taylor, Travis Benjamin, and Richie James have combined for 681 catches, 9,558 yards, and 55 touchdowns in 285 games. Those numbers significantly decrease when removing Benjamin, an eight year veteran whose roster hopes seemed very slim up until the Samuel injury.
The receiver room is as green as they come, which is not ideal given the pressure of this season.
There is no denying Brown’s talent, and it is not like he is some washed up wide receiver from a physical standpoint. The year before last, Brown caught 104 balls for nearly 1,300 yards and led the league with 15 touchdowns receptions. Peruse Brown’s social media accounts and you'll see he is clearly in phenomenal shape for a soon-to-be 32 year old.
The Suspension
Speculation around the NFL suggests that Antonio Brown will face a suspension of some sort when and if he is signed by an NFL team, but nothing is concrete. The league investigations are currently delayed due to COVID-19, making Brown a huge gamble for any team.
Even if Brown misses part of the season due to suspension, again which is not definitive, having him on the team for the postseason would give the 49ers a huge leg up.
Ideally, Brown would be there in Samuel’s absence, but having Samuel and Brown both come in a few weeks into the season would add a ton of firepower.
The Contract
Brown is looking for one last opportunity to get back on the field. With that being said, he has absolutely zero leverage. The 49ers could offer Brown a one-year incentive based contract, with a low cap hit on the upcoming season. In doing so, there is still enough wiggle room to work out a George Kittle extension.
Spectacle or not, the Reward Outweighs the Risk
“Brick by brick” has been the 49ers mantra ever since Lynch and Shanahan took over. The two have done a tremendous job laying down the foundation of this football team, a team as tight as they come, with great leadership all over the locker room.
The front office has led this organization to a place where it's safe taking risks. Even if that risk is Brown. The 49ers have a strong enough locker room to overcome distractions quickly. Veteran leaders like Richard Sherman and Trent Williams will not allow someone like Brown to come in with their own agenda and/or a non-team approach.
Brown will have to prove early on that he is about the team and the moment that comes into question, release him and move on.
Why Antonio Brown needs the 49ers
Brown coming to the 49ers would completely rejuvenate his career. With an all-business coach like Mike Tomlin, over time it’s possible that the game gets less fun.
We’ve seen this in New England with Bill Belichick, and players like Rob Gronkowski retiring simply because they’ve lost interest in the game due to their coaches.
Now losing interest is by no means an excuse for Antonio Brown’s actions, but it could provide reasoning as to why he was so unhappy in Pittsburgh. Once he lost happiness there, his career spiraled out of control.
Enter Kyle Shanahan
Shanahan is the coach who is more than capable of turning Brown’s career around. As the face of the incoming wave of young NFL coaches, who are practically the same age as some of the vets, he provides a breath of fresh air for players tired of the same old thing.
Shanahan knows how to relate and build relationships with his players, and understands the importance of team-building off the field. This approach is different in comparison to those with an old-school approach.
Shanahan hangs out with his players off the field. You can catch him at UFC fights with Jimmy Garoppolo, George Kittle, and 50 cent.
The camaraderie of the 49ers does not end once players leave the locker room -- it goes well beyond that. That sense of not just having an important role on the team, but being valued because you’re a human being on the team is the type of environment I believe Antonio Brown will flourish under.
Lynch and Shanahan have done a tremendous job to instill that feeling within the locker room, and because of it they've earned the right to gamble on troubled players. Brown needs this team, but more specifically, he needs Shanahan.
Structure and stability
When the Raiders signed Brown, they were focused too much on the athlete. The Raiders and Brown never were a good fit, and that experiment ended before it even started. Jon Gruden and Derek Carr were not the figures in the locker room in the eyes of the players that Kyle Shanahan and Jimmy Garoppolo are for the 49ers.
The 49ers brass is running a high quality program with little to no questions. Shanahan was just extended for three more seasons, on top of the three remaining years he had left on his contract. Lynch looks like he's on track to receive a promotion or extension, and Jed York is finally leaving all football decisions up to his people.
Brown and the 49ers both know what they’d be getting themselves into if the team offered him a contract, whereas that was not the case with the Raiders.
Brown comes with baggage, but if that baggage leads to the 49ers hoisting up their 6th Lombardi trophy in February, it’ll have been well worth it.
Follow me on Twitter: @NinerNick_22
