Max Kellerman on Friday shared his thoughts on Antonio Brown potentially playing for the New England Patriots this Sunday against the Miami Dolphins.
It was reported Friday that Brown will not be placed on the commissioner’s exempt list. The wide receiver has been accused of sexual assault and rape in a civil lawsuit filed this week by former trainer Britney Taylor, and both Brown and his accuser are expected to meet with NFL officials as the league investigates the matter.
Kellerman, Stephen A. Smith and Damien Woody discussed the situation Friday morning on ESPN’s “First Take,” and Kellerman explained the Patriots don’t need Brown while playing the “worst team in football” in Week 2.
Kellerman continued by saying the only thing the NFL and the Patriots need to know when it comes to deciding whether Brown plays is if he’s the one who sent the alleged text messages to Taylor.
“The NFL and the Patriots should move more expeditiously before this game,” Kellerman said. “And this is the only question I would need to know to see if he is on the field or not: Was that you who sent the text message that’s out there right now about what you did while she was asleep? If the answer is ‘yes’ to that, I don’t need to know whether he was lying in the text message or whether it was true, whether he could contextualize it as part of an ongoing kind of relationship they had where that was OK somehow. I don’t need to know any of that. If he sent that text message — if he denies it, fine, then maybe he can get on the field. But if he says, ‘Yeah, that was me who sent that text message,’ he’s not on the field for me this Sunday, because at best, as they say, the optics are terrible. At best, it looks terrible for Antonio Brown, the Patriots and the league. At worst, it’s a nonconsensual act.”
Listen to more from Kellerman, Smith and Woody in the video below.
Bill Belichick wouldn’t say Friday whether Brown will play Sunday, although the Patriots coach did say the receiver has a “long way to go” in learning New England’s offense.
