Raiders receiver Antonio Brown is training like mad, and channeling Jerry Rice
Apparently what’s good for the GOAT is good for a four-time, first-team All-Pro.
On Saturday, Oakland Raiders receiver Antonio Brown posted a video on Twitter giving fans a glimpse of his workout regime, which includes tossing a brick from hand to hand while moving side to side and back and forth. A trainer peppers him with encouragement: “Keep it going, yup! Rhythm baby, rhythm. Do this all day.”
Somewhere Jerry Rice, whose legend was built on a foundation of countless bricks, is nodding his head approvingly.
All day baby @realgametips pic.twitter.com/d10S2uJCqO
— AB (@AB84) July 20, 2019
This isn’t for show. Sports Illustrated reported that in early July, Brown, preparing for his first season with the Raiders after nine years with the Steelers, posted video of himself “wearing strobe glasses while balancing himself on a fitness ball.”
There’s a reason they call you the @AB84 You crushed this hand eye coordination drill! @Raiders @TheRaidersWire @BleacherReport @ESPNNFL @NFL @nflnetwork @NFLTotalAccess @BleacherNfl @espn @SportsCenter @gmfb #athletixrehab pic.twitter.com/WThjk48xCV
— Dr Reef (@doctor_reef) July 2, 2019
Intense drill with my guy @AB84 working hand eye coordination with strobe glasses, balance on @bosufitness with inc challenge from strobes, resisted arms simulating defenders while attacking the ball @BleacherReport @Raiders @TheRaidersWire @NFL @nflnetwork @ESPNNFL @SportsCenter pic.twitter.com/XmLQ8ktAVa
— Dr Reef (@doctor_reef) July 10, 2019
Impressive, no doubt. But for our money, the brick is the trick. Anyway, it worked for Rice, the greatest pass catcher in pro football history, who played the bulk of his career with the 49ers and Raiders. Listen and learn, even if you’ve heard it before.
“During the summer my father would take me to work with him,” Rice told AOL.com in 2015. “He was a brick mason. My brother and I, we had developed this technique where you throw the bricks up, they were separated, and I was snatching them in the air. So, the myth about me learning to catch footballs from catching bricks, that’s where it came from.”
We’ll give Brown this much — we never saw Rice catching bricks or running hills while wearing super-cool loafers.