NAPA – The "Hard Knocks" camera crew following Antonio Brown asked to see his ailing feet.
The Raiders receiver kept his socks on for a second.
"You want to see it?" Brown said, with a wry smile. "Are you sure you want to see it?"
The answer was yes. The sock came off and exposed the sole of his foot -- both are jacked up -- which was was peeling and blistering after suffering from frostbite during a cryotherapy session gone awry.
"I was on vacation in Paris and I was training," Brown said, in a segment aired during Tuesday's episode of "Hard Knocks" on HBO. "I was trying cold therapy to recover my body. I got out and I felt my foot burning. I felt a hot sensation, so over the next 24 hours or so it swelled up. I couldn't really walk or put pressure [on them]."
Then came gruesome details of the early healing process, which indicate the trial Brown has endured while rehabbing his feet.
"The doctor came over and drained a little out," Brown said. "He scalpeled it the next day. Then freaking scissors the next day. He just kind of let it leak all out. As everything leaked all out, I was able to put a lot of pressure on them.
Sports
"Thankfully, my trainer was working me out because I couldn't be on my feet. I'm crawling and stuff, and working to get everything else better. Now it's like new skin, and I have to get my feet used to it. I feel like I just have a big patch of open whoopee cushion, you know?"
Jon Gruden said Saturday that Brown's foot issue was not his fault – his camp is considering legal action against the French cryotherapy center – and that it was no laughing matter. That seems accurate considering the difficulty of his rehab, which will end with him returning to 100 percent.
Brown tried to find humor in the situation during his "Hard Knocks" interview.
"Yeah. I f---ing got circumcised on my feet," Brown said. "Hopefully my feet are born again, and I can run faster. Feel sorry for me later. Thank you."
