Antonio Brown lost his second grievance to wear his preferred Schutt AiR Advantage helmet, a source confirmed Sunday to NBC Sports Bay Area's Scott Bair.
An independent arbitrator ruled against Brown for a second time now, Pro Football Talk first reported Sunday, prohibiting him from wearing an outdated helmet that can't be certified and recently failed a safety test.
Brown argued that he should be given a one-year grace period afforded to other players, considering the Schutt AiR Advantage was never formally prohibited. This ruling dismissed that argument.
It also brought a merciful end to this helmet drama, which has gone on privately for months and publicly throughout most of this preseason.
Brown will wear an approved certified helmet and continue practicing, as he was Sunday morning with the Raiders.
Antonio Brown working here at Raiders practice. (Tyrell Williams back today, too) pic.twitter.com/OmC5mtKAZ7— Scott Bair (@BairNBCS) August 25, 2019
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Brown has responded well to general manager Mike Mayock's "all-in or all-out" ultimatum, issued the final day of training camp after Brown left in frustration over his preferred helmet failing a safety test and essentially being banned from use.
Despite his setbacks, Brown found a silver (and black) lining to all this. PFT reports that Brown will have a custom-made helmet that suits his specifications and, of course, it will come with an endorsement deal.
Business, as they say, is boomin'.
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Brown worked hard to wear the Schutt AiR Adavantage helmet. NFL Network's Mike Silver reported he went so far as to repaint imported versions of the helmet to practice in it after the Raiders wouldn't let him wear it.
The Raiders sent him several models, but Brown couldn't find one he liked. He had been wearing a Schutt Vengeance Z10 LTD helmet in recent workouts, but he was wearing a different helmet on Sunday. He will eventually wear a custom model, which always seemed like the logical end to this story.
