NFL Rumors: Antonio Brown Could Actually Be In Legal Trouble For Secretly Recorded Phone Call With Jon Gruden

Update: Antonio Brown has been released by the Oakland Raiders, according to a new report by The Inquisitr.

The ongoing drama between Antonio Brown and the Oakland Raiders took another bizarre twist on Friday night, with the wide receiver posting a video of what seemed to be a privately recorded phone call with coach Jon Gruden — which could land Brown in legal trouble.

On Friday afternoon, the Raiders announced that Brown would be back with the team, close to 24 hours after he got into a verbal altercation with general manager Mike Mayock. As The Inquisitr reported, a number of NFL insiders said the team was planning to suspend Brown and some even reported that the team was exploring options to void his contract and cut ties entirely, but the Raiders apparently decided against it and said he will be in the lineup for Week 1.

Then, just a few hours later, Brown posted to YouTube a video/Nike advertisement that featured a very raw and emotional phone call with Gruden, one that appeared to have been secretly recorded. In the call, Gruden presses Brown about whether he will be back with the team and begs him to cut out the drama.

“Please stop this s**t and just play football,” Gruden said.

The video caused quite a stir, and some NFL reporters noted that it may have actually violated the law. Bay Area News Group’s sports columnist, Dieter Kurtenbach, noted on Twitter that the state of California is a two-party consent state, meaning that both people on a phone call need to be aware that it is being recorded and both need to agree to it.

As CBS Sports reported, there is no indication of whether Gruden was aware that his call to Brown was being recorded. The report also noted the potential legal implications of the phone call, saying that it would be a violation of California law if it was secretly recorded.

It appears that, for anything to happen, the Raiders or Gruden himself would have to pursue charges against Brown. That seems unlikely given that the team just welcomed him back. Regardless, the video could continue to put a strain on the relationship between the Raiders and Brown, who reportedly started the confrontation with Mayock over the wide receiver’s Instagram post showing a picture of Mayock’s letter. The letter showed Brown being fined more than $50,000 for missing team activities this past offseason.

It seems Brown won’t be getting in any more trouble for his phone call-turned-YouTube video, though. ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reported on Twitter that Gruden was amused by the highly produced hype video that featured his phone call, and said he found it “awesome.”