The New England Patriots released Antonio Brown on Friday after an eventful, 11-day tenure in Foxboro, but it sounds like some members of the organization were not on board with the signing from the start.
Brown already was one of the NFL’s most controversial stars before sexual assault and rape allegations surfaced, and, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, not everyone at One Patriot Place was in favor of signing the All-Pro wide receiver when he hit the open market.
Schefter joined WEEI’s “Ordway, Merloni & Fauria” on Friday and said people within the Patriots organization were not thrilled when Brown’s off-field issues went off the rails shortly after his arrival.
“Even when they signed him, not everybody was on board with signing him at that point in time,” Schefter said, per WEEI. “But there were enough people, enough key people, that felt that they should. And so they did. And so after they signed him, the allegations of the sexual assault surfaced. People (were) not thrilled. You put up with it. But the circus came to town and never left town.
“And today, when Bill Belichick walks into that press conference, it’s an example of it. Five questions of Antonio Brown. He doesn’t want to talk about this,” Schefter added. “This is a 2-0 team, about to go to 3-0. This is a 3-0 team that is trying to make more history. And all anybody is talking about is the latest group of texts (from) Antonio Brown — who’s already been accused of three different sexual assaults, who’s already had a civil lawsuit filed against him, who already had the NFL investigate him, all in the span of 11 days.”
What’s next for Brown remains to be seen. The NFL will continue its investigation of the 31-year-old amid a slew of serious off-field allegations. From Schefter’s point of view, Brown won’t be playing in the NFL again this season.
“I don’t see (him playing in the NFL) happening this year,” he said. ” … When New England cuts you like that, why is another team going to go ahead and sign him?”
The Patriots look for their third win of the season Sunday at Gillette Stadium when they take on the New York Jets at 1 p.m. ET.
