Rams will get early test facing Antonio Brown in preseason debut with Raiders

With Tuesday’s release of the 2019 preseason schedule, it looks like the Los Angeles Rams will face Antonio Brown and the Oakland Raiders during Week 1.

Even though the main focus for the Los Angeles Rams at the moment is on the upcoming draft in a few weeks, the defending NFC champions along with every other team found out their opponents on Tuesday with the release of the 2019 preseason schedule.

While the Rams already knew they would be traveling to Hawaii in Week 2 to host the Dallas Cowboys in a trip that will seem more like a vacation for the players, it looks like Sean McVay and company will be the first team to face Antonio Brown as a member of the Oakland Raiders.

Looking back at all of the crazy moves across the NFL from the offseason, the drama surrounding Brown that resulted in the speedy wideout ending up in Oakland following a trade with the Pittsburgh Steelers may rank near the top of the list.

Talent wise, Brown is one of the best receivers in the NFL for a reason after catching 15 touchdown passes in 2018, and while there are no guarantees that everything will work out for the best with the Raiders, the potential is certainly there.

Los Angeles may not have to face Brown during the regular season when it matters the most, but with the team kicking their preseason off against the Raiders on the road, this will certainly be a good early test on the defensive side of the football.

Depending on what McVay decides to do with the starters since last year showed the head coach leaning towards resting his starters as much as possible, it will be interesting to see how the Rams look on defense when trying to keep Brown in check.

Most likely, Jon Gruden will take a similar approach to McVay when it comes to limiting the action for Brown and some of the other Raiders starters to avoid any sort of unnecessary injuries, but this will still be an exciting first matchup for Los Angeles.

Preseason may not be the most exciting time of year for football fans, but at least this first battle against Brown and the Raiders should bring a little extra excitement to the table for the Rams, as they will look to jump out to a hot start in preseason.