Few people in NFL franchises have more power than Bill Belichick, and the New England Patriots head coach apparently flexed his muscle in a big way when it came to signing Antonio Brown.
Belichick and the Patriots have been unsurprisingly quiet about everything regarding Brown, from his signing more than two weeks ago to his eventual release just 11 days later. The team has stonewalled or avoided any and all media attempts to dive deeper into the decision-making process, and without on-the-record explanation, the speculation and sourced reporting continues.
As it pertains to the Patriots’ decision to sign Brown almost immediately after the Oakland Raiders released him prior to Week 2 of the NFL season, The Ringer’s Ryen Russillo reported on a recent podcast the decision was all Belichick. In fact, Russillo said he spoke with people who indicated Belichick made the move without consulting anyone else in the organization — perhaps even owner Robert Kraft.
According to Russillo, Belichick’s relationship with Brown’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, facilitated the swift movement.
“But from what I heard is that Belichick did this completely on his own,” Russillo said Monday on his podcast. “And what I’ve mentioned before on this podcast, is that Bill likes Rosenhaus based on all the people I’ve talked to and that Drew is somebody that NFL teams — despite the drama and the histrionics and him going on TV and saying all those things — that behind the scenes, is he’s a guy who wants to work and get deals done. He doesn’t need every single last dollar. He wants to make sure his players get taken care of and that’s not always the same for all agents.”
Russillo continued: “When Brown was (released), Rosenhaus calls Bill and says ‘Let’s figure this out,’ and Bill’s like ‘Done,’ but Belichick doesn’t consult anybody else and just did it.”
Of course, shortly after the Patriots signed Brown, a civil lawsuit against Brown alleging rape and sexual assault came to light. The Patriots, according to reports, were blindsided by the allegations. It’s possible the topic never came up in conversations between Belichick and Rosenhaus, but there were Twitter whispers about that story the weekend of New England’s signing.
If Belichick — who has loved Brown for years — was working alone as Russillo reports, it would conveniently allow Kraft to claim ignorance, and one report indicated Kraft would have rejected the signing had he known about Brown’s allegations. Belichick signing Brown on his own certainly would give Kraft that public image out.
Where things might get even more uncomfortable inside the halls of Gillette Stadium is how the Patriots structured Brown’s deal. He was promised $14 million, and Russillo reports the Patriots were to pay part of that money Monday and the rest in March. According to Russillo, the Patriots made the move before paying Brown any of that money, which would explain the wideout’s Sunday morning Twitter meltdown that targeted Kraft (a few days after expressing his admiration for Belichick and Tom Brady). Despite Kraft’s reported desire to make sure Brown doesn’t see any of that money, Brown might have a leg to stand on.
“( Belichick) didn’t talk to anybody else about how he structured the deal and treated Brown like he was a normal guy who was a high-profile free agent,” Russillo continued. “So instead of doing a roster bonus, hey let’s just call it ($750,000), call it ($1 million) a week when you’re on the 46-man and ready to go, to make sure you’re invested in this whole thing, that’s how it should have been treated. Other people around the league were like, ‘Man, that’s a really weird way of doing this,’ and that’s apparently what Bill just did. Bill got with Drew, trusted Drew and just and went ahead and gave him this deal,”
And as Russillo explained, NFL rules might mean Brown trying to get his money might be justified.
“If the language says you owe me this much, and it’s not a hidden injury the player or the agent lied about, it’s just simply a civil not criminal complaint, there’s still a chance he gets that money and that money is on the cap books for this year and next year,” Russillo said. ” … It may have been a really reckless and stupid contract structure where (Belichick) just did it on his own.”
For as many hits as Belichick has over his legendary career, it’s possible this one ends up being one of his worst misses — just don’t expect him to talk too much about it.
