It appears Antonio Brown landed in New England by the hair of his chin.
Less than a day after officially signing with the Patriots, Brown was named in a civil lawsuit for allegedly sexually assaulting and raping his former physical trainer, Britney Taylor. The star receiver immediately denied the allegations and avoided both suspension and a spot on the commissioner’s exempt list — for now, at least.
One of the biggest questions to emerge from Brown’s situation has been whether the Patriots knew of the allegations before signing the 31-year-old. Bill Belichick was predictably mute on the matter during media availability this week.
But, according to NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport, Patriots owner Robert Kraft would’ve vetoed Brown’s deal had he known about the allegations.
From Rapoport’s column filed Sunday morning:
“Sources have said that neither the Patriots, nor the NFL, knew of the coming charges against Brown prior to his signing in New England. Had the team known, one person familiar with the situation said, owner Robert Kraft would not have signed off on the signing.”
So, how could the Patriots have not known about the looming lawsuit. Did Brown’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, really keep them in the dark?
Here’s some additional context from Rapoport:
“While the NFL did not place him on the Commissioner’s Exempt list before today, the league did not rule it out later this week. As spelled out in the personal conduct policy, a player may be placed on the exempt list when he is criminally charged with a crime of violence or if commissioner Roger Goodell believes a person may have violated the policy. In this instance, Brown was not deemed to have fulfilled those requirements.
“Interestingly, Brown and the accuser engaged in settlement talks for months before the lawsuit was filed. Those were confidential, which may explain why so few people knew about it.”
Brown is expected to make his team debut Sunday against the Miami Dolphins and reportedly will see a heavy workload.
However, whether Brown’s career in New England gets put on temporary hold (or terminated) in the coming days remains to be seen.
