Lost in the shuffle of Raiders receiver Antonio Brown’s return to practice and his scavenger hunt for a less-than-10-year-old Schutt AiR Advantage with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time are his frostbitten feet. More specifically, how his feet became frostbitten.
Yes, the Raiders and Brown reluctantly have acknowledged that he suffered the injury while inside a cryotherapy chamber last month in France. No, they still haven’t said how it happened.
Via MJ Acosta of NFL.com, agent Drew Rosenhaus said at Raiders camp on Tuesday that “they can’t divulge any information as to the cause of the injury to the player’s feet because legal action against the cryotherapy company involved could be coming in the near future.”
Given that the injury happened in France, that could be a difficult and expensive lawsuit to bring. Even if a claim would be made against the manufacturer of the unit -- and even if the unit was made in America -- whoever owned and operated it would be a necessary party to the action, which would make France arguably the correct location for filing suit. Also, multiple reports (starting with Chris Simms on PFT Live, who first had the news of the cryotherapy debacle) have indicated that Brown failed to wear proper footwear into the chamber.
This means that Brown potentially has some responsibility for his injuries. Which would complicate any lawsuit that may be brought. Which makes it far less likely that a lawsuit will be filed.
Of course, an actual lawsuit doesn’t have to be filed. Suggesting that someone else may be civilly responsible for the injuries provides convenient cover for the apparent reality that Brown is partially if not totally responsible for the injuries.