Mike Freeman's 10-Point Stance: Oaktown Can Be Brown's Town If Carr Can Keep Up

Some good news and some bad news for the Raiders; OBJ has a point, but not about what you may think; and could Russell Wilson be the next great film producer? All that and more in this week's 10-Point Stance.

1. It's summer, and everything seems possible

On Monday, Raiders wide receiver Antonio Brown posted some practical, and smart, life advice on Twitter. It was really well said:

Then Brown posted one of his workouts. He could have built a brick house doing this.

What do these things have to do with the opening of NFL training camps this week? Could be a lot. Brown, people around the league say, is gearing up to have a great season even if he's not playing with a great quarterback. The word out of Oakland is that Brown has impressed the Raiders both with his work ethic and how, so far, he has made it clear he's going to be a team player.

This isn't the first time I've heard optimism about Brown's potential this season. But the praise has been amped up in recent days.

Now, we'll see what happens when Derek Carr starts overthrowing passes to Brown. And that will happen. A lot.

Will Brown keep his cool then? That is the question. The Raiders think he will.

But it may not be easy, because the man tasked with getting him the ball may not be up for the job...

2. Down with Derek

Robert Reiners/Getty Images

That man, of course, is Carr, and every time I criticize him, some Raiders fans absolutely lose their minds, like I'm ripping Johnny Unitas.

But I'm not alone in my skepticism. There are many people in the league whom I respect who feel that Carr just isn't that good of a quarterback. And if you don't believe me, read this from Mike Sando of The Athletic.

"He is sensitive and needs encouragement, and that is not the style he is going to get," an offensive coach told The Athletic. "When someone shows disappointment in him, he shrinks. The head coach not coming out and completely endorsing him has to be eating him alive."

Quarterbacks are hypercritiqued all the time. It's part of the job. Yet rarely is the criticism this savage. I can't remember the last time a coach said a player was too sensitive.

That doesn't bode well for the second season of the Carr-Jon Gruden relationship. Gruden is not a back-slapper. He's not the encouraging type. He's the opposite. He is a soul-crusher in the Bill Parcells style of coaching. Gruden believes a quarterback is forged by fire, not compliments.

Maybe Carr can shock the world, play great and shut everyone up. But at the age of 28, he probably is who he is as a quarterback, and if his up-and-down interactions with Gruden last season were a hint of things to come, this year could be even rockier.

3. You say tomato, I say tomahto; let's call the whole thing a double standard

Kathy Willens/Associated Press

Much of the reaction to Odell Beckham Jr.'s comprehensive interview with Mark Anthony Green of GQ that was published Monday focused on his comments about how he felt he was largely responsible for the sorry Giants being on national television despite their mostly losing records in the past handful of seasons. But perhaps his most controversial—and truthful—remarks were about the racial double standards surrounding how players are perceived in the NFL.

Beckham has mentioned this before. He was right then and right now.

"Race plays into everything, whether we want to believe it or not," he told GQ. "I remember posting a video of me and Tom Brady, and I hate to even bring him in this, but he's passionate. He cares—he wouldn't still be playing if he didn't care for the game the way that he did today. He throws a cup, he yells at referees, he yells at his coach. It's because he cares that bad. He wants to win that bad. Now, because he has won six Super Bowls, they validate him and say, 'He's won six Super Bowls.'"

Beckham, on the other hand, yells on a sideline because he also wants to win, and he is blistered for being a bad teammate.

If you think Beckham is the only player who feels this way, you're wrong.

It's sort of a bottom-line deal. Either a player shows too much attitude or he doesn't. Fire is fire. Fire shouldn't require a prerequisite number of Super Bowl wins. It shouldn't be OK if you are a white quarterback but a problem when you are a black wide receiver.

If Beckham hits a net with no Super Bowls, and another player does the same but has one or two or six, they both hit a net.

This is sure to be a topic going forward even now with Beckham in Cleveland, because he is a passionate guy, and he's likely to do with the Browns what he did in New York. He'll get angry. He'll show emotion.

But more than anything, he wants to win. Just like Brady. Maybe it's time we recognize that.

4. The most important ability is availability

Curtis Compton/Associated Press

Amid all the opinions OBJ offered in the GQ interview, he also talked some football and, specifically, about his hopes to break Jerry Rice's all-time receiving record of 22,895 yards.

Could he do it? The short answer is probably not.

What makes Rice's record so hard to reach isn't just that Rice was good. It's that Rice was durable.

From 1988 to 1996, Rice didn't miss a single regular-season game. That's remarkable.

Beckham, in his first five years, has played 16 games in a season just once. He is spectacular, but he's also been injured quite a bit.

That doesn't mean he couldn't go on a six- or seven-year stretch like Rice and obliterate the league. But his track record doesn't make it seem likely.

5. Wilson's hard knocks

Ted S. Warren/Associated Press

Russell Wilson is one of the more groundbreaking players in recent NFL history. That's on the field. Now he's breaking new ground off it.

This week Wilson debuted a three-episode series on YouTube called Summer Camp. The first episode aired Monday and the other two parts Tuesday and Wednesday. It's essentially Wilson's version of Hard Knocks, in which a group of 13 Seahawks players prepare at Wilson's San Diego home for training camp.

It was filmed by Wilson's West2East Empire production team.

Players have done their own videos before, documenting their workouts or other things, but this is on a different level. This isn't just players talking into their iPhones. This is a slick and effective means of Wilson communicating exactly what he wants to communicate—minus NFL oversight—using a production company that creates a look that rivals Hard Knocks.

Beyond the entertainment value of the production, the series is another step in players' efforts to take control of their own images and narratives. (I also think it could be the beginning of an entertainment career for Wilson that delves into movies or documentaries.)

In the future, watch for players who use social media extensively like Brown, Beckham, J.J. Watt, Tom Brady, Le'Veon Bell, Richard Sherman, Aaron Rodgers and others to maybe follow suit with their own series.

One of the big takeaways from Wilson's project is how clear it is that the Seahawks quarterback has become one of the better leaders in the sport. Yes, the documentary was always likely to show him in a positive light (duh), but I've heard repeatedly from Seahawks players in the past few years how much he's grown as a leader, and how much the locker room respects him. In the past, the defense was the team's leader. Now, there's no question who it is.

Now, as Wilson enters his on-field playing prime, he is opening a door to an off-field creative prime. It's unique to see someone excel at both at the same time. And while Wilson will be remembered as one of the great players of his generation, it's possible what he's doing off the field might end up being just as memorable.

6. An unvarnished look at life in the NFL

Chuck Burton/Associated Press

If you want to know what an NFL locker room is sometimes like, watch this clip from the All or Nothing show on Amazon Prime featuring the Panthers (warning: language NSFW).

The best part of productions like this is they show the NFL as it is on the field. It's not the glossy highlights. There's grit, there's grime, and there's a lot of raw emotion.

It's wonderful.

7. Crime and (uneven) punishment

Paul Sancya/Associated Press

The NFL's personal conduct policy allows for the league to take disciplinary action against players who aren't arrested or charged. Yet over the last week, the league has treated two separate accusations against players in two different ways.

First, there was Kansas City wide receiver Tyreek Hill. He is on an audio recording threatening the mother of his child. On Friday, the NFL decided not to suspend him, citing a lack of evidence. Hill has not been charged.

Then there was Seahawks defensive tackle Jarran Reed. He was accused of domestic violence in 2017 but was never arrested or charged. The NFL announced Monday that Reed will be suspended for six games this season.

The league can claim it has its reasons, but the unevenness of these decisions highlights what many of us reporters have been saying for years: The league needs to outsource its discipline system.

Either hand it over to a law firm or create a permanent commission composed of former players, coaches and league executives who will handle the discipline. At least then there might be a chance for some consistency of discipline philosophy. My suggestion: former Raiders executive Amy Trask, former coach Tony Dungy, former player Michael Strahan and former Commissioner Paul Tagliabue.

Something needs to change because what the NFL is doing now simply isn't working.

8. The Niners' hard bargains

Charlie Riedel/Associated Press

For years, agents have complained to me about the way the 49ers structure their contracts. The Athletic's Vic Tafur explained a bit in a very insider-y story about the life of an agent. The principal issue, Tafur found, is that the Niners often guarantee players' contracts later in the year than other teams, allowing them to move off a player later than other teams without the financial repercussions.

If you want to understand how much players sometimes fight their own teams just to get compensated fairly, it's worth your time.

9. It's time to get angry again

Matt Rourke/Associated Press

Every year the NFL Network does its annual top 100 list of the best players in the league, and every year people get upset over the rankings. Every. Damn. Year.

Of course, it's supposed to be a fun list, and yes, since it's the players making the rankings, it carries more weight. But it's still subjective, meant to cause a little discussion. Not anger.

This year's outrage is over the fall of Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz, who dropped 93 spots from No. 3 last year. Eagles fans on my Twitter timeline were absolutely blowing their stacks.

I love lists like these.

It would be a lot more fun, however, if everyone just calmed down.

10. Moon shot

I wouldn't be a good nerd/dork/sci-fi loser if we didn't have a quick mention of the recent 50th anniversary of the July 20, 1969, moon landing.

We can argue about whether it was faked on another day, but for now, this tweet from ESPN Stats & Info caught my nerd eye:

The moon...I think Mahomes could reach it.

Mike Freeman covers the NFL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter: @mikefreemanNFL.