Several teams were interested in signing Antonio Brown prior to him agreeing to a deal with the Patriots, Chris Mortensen reports on ESPN. Mort lists the Seahawks and Browns among the teams that were eyeing the wide receiver. QB Russell Wilson worked out with Brown during the offseason.
As a vested veteran, Brown was not subjected to waivers, meaning he was able to sign anywhere he pleased once the Raiders released him. Here’s more on the Brown-saga:
- The Patriots attempted to trade for Brown back in March but the Steelers rebuffed those inquiries as they didn’t want to send him to a rival, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. New England was willing to give up picks for him then but now, after the signing him as a free agent, they were able to land Brown without surrendering compensation.
- According to Mortensen (above link), the Patriots were willing to give the Steelers a first-round pick for Brown during the offseason. Pittsburgh ultimately didn’t want to trade Brown to a place they would have to face him.
- Antonio Brown sought advice from social media consultants on how he could accelerate his release from the Raiders, per Mortensen (same link). Posting the letter from GM Mike Mayock that stated he would be fined was among the moves Brown made on social media leading up to his release.
- Brown could be suspended by the league office, as we passed along on Saturday. It was reported that the Raiders were considering suspending him prior to him finding his way to the free agent market.
If Antonio Brown is sane and he deliberately tampered with the Raiders to force a release, he should be suspended for a full season. The Raiders traded third and fifth round draft picks and Antonio Brown was on board with the trade.
There’s no way the Patriots should get away with acquiring Brown for free. This is effectively cheating.
There’s so much wrong with this whole story, particularly now that New England’s early interest is out in the open. If Brown plays for the New England, it almost seems that New England should be forced to give the Raiders their third and fifth round draft pick.
Wow
I’m curious how you can possibly spin this to somehow be the Patriots fault/wrongdoing/cheating. I’m also curious if you would’ve posted the same thing if any other team had signed him instead (I already know the answer to the second question)
No surprise on that comment, and no, he wouldn’t have commented if it had been anyone else. Seems I remember growing up through the Yankees/Red Sox rivalry and hearing a lot of fans say the Yanks “cheated” at bringing in premium players. Suck it up and prepare to lose more
As a Patriot hater I still find it hard to say they “cheated” but I wouldn’t be surprised if they effectively “tampered” as defined by the League. The bigger issue is Brown manipulating the situation and essentially voiding a valid contract because he didn’t want to play for that team.
On one hand I get that these guys want to have some agency over where they play but that’s not how the NFL is constructed. If you expect the Owners to accept the risk of guaranteeing salaries then you should be expected to honor your obligations to play under that contract for the agreed upon amount. If you don’t like the terms don’t sign the deal! Market will dictate and reasonable players that perform (see Julio Jones) almost always get what they earn eventually.
man ain’t nothing but sour grapes! PATS do what they do & Steelers doin what they do..come up short! their mad cause that window they had for getting to a SB JUST SLAMMED SHUT!! lol
They’re* learn correct English or don’t post. It makes you look illiterate, to say the least
When you have no good response, so you resort to grammar mistakes.
I hope the patriots never win another game, their fans are beyond annoying, but I cannot for the life of me figure how they would cheat here, they offered a 1st for him, that’s heads and tails better than a 3rd and 5th, Pittsburgh/Oakland just made bad business decisions and that’s that, Antonio Brown will have a hard time landing a big long term contract for the rest of his career
Keep hoping
Umm been several SB , the Pats haven’t won. And Brady will retire and then what? You will have rough years of rebuild and have to suffer all the trash talk. Unless you can learn humility before #humbleness
33-3
agreed. sitting out for a new contract is one thing, but intentionally working to get yourself released just to sign with a different team sets a dangerous precedent. Hoping more details keep coming out and gives NFL no choice but to hand out a decent suspension
Agreed… though hopefully the punishment comes in 2020. (Pats fan)
Anytime the Pats do something, someone somewhere calls it cheating. New England’s early interest was in a trade. Some of you people need to keep the Patriot hating to a minimum. Sorry your team hasn’t won anything in a while. This happens in other ways that no one else makes a big deal about. Suck it up and prepare to lose some more.
I’m not sure how up to $15m for a FA is free, but ok. You keep on hating on the Patriots because they’re good.
Alec Kinnear bro… the dude was released once released he can sign anywhere he want the Patriots didn’t do anything wrong in this situation…
TO kinda did this but he just told the Raven he wouldn’t play. I don’t know of a situation where it came after the trade happened. This is bad for the league. But the full yr suspension should be for the racial slur. Owners have had to sell their team for racial slurs. 1 yr suspension at minimum.
Maximum suspension length for his outburst is 4 games. It looks much worse when the employer is racist.
Employee…Brown called Mayock a cracker it wasn’t the other way around
I think he was referring to the owner being forced to sell his team from the previous post ala clippers. So employer would be correct.
Well that just confirms his clown statement…racism is not ok on any level by anyone…if it’s not punished universally then it’s just opposite racism that is PC driven
Mayock would’ve never worked in football again in any capacity had he used a racial slur towards Antonio Clown
How true a lot of people forgot to mention.A racist is a racist no matter if play in the NFL or you don’t.His talent doesn’t erase his racism
He won’t be suspended for the ‘racial slur’ because the only people that care about ‘cracker’ are hardcore snowflakes like yourself who are always looking for a way to make white people seem like victims. Get a life.
racism goes both ways or dont punish it when it’s a black victim… you can’t be overtly PC in one direction, otherwise you’re just a hypocritical pos.
A slur is a slur, it shouldn’t be allowed on any level by anyone of any color…that is how we get rid of it, treat it the same universally
Absolutely agree.
Let’s talk about the:
Cleveland INDIANS
Atlanta BRAVES
Washington REDSKINS
Those names honour native peoples. It’s about the last monument left standing to them after settlers and President Andrew Jackson murdered them (almost) all.
So you’d have no problem with:
Cleveland HONKIES
Atlanta CRACKERS
Washington PALEFACES
??
Calm down. You softer than Charmin.
In fact there were two Atlanta Cracker baseball teams. The Atlanta Crackers and the Atlanta Black Crackers.
There are already the 49ers, Buccaneers and Raiders. All of those nicknames are somewhat derogatory. Who the heck aspires to be a loser gold rush creek panner, glorified pirate or some kind of career criminal.
Indians, Braves and Redskins are not derogatory. Proof? Ask the Indians (somebody already did: Native People actually like that there are sports teams with their names and traditional imagery). The only people who find those nicknames derogatory are woke white SJW who for some reason feel compelled to wipe all memory of the great Native nations who once populated North America.
So glad to know you condone whities being called crackers, honkies, and red necks…precisely why racism will persist until people learn to love and respect every race, color, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and religious views.
Oh and yes, regardless of what team AB signed with, he should be suspended for his racial slur- it’s precisely the reason he used that word.
oh stop crying ! if he went to another team it’d be ok right? Steelers lost any hope of playing for a ring.but hey,all I’ve heard is how great juju is! good luck with that!!
No, it wouldn’t be ok had he gone to another team. He seemingly orchestrated this whole scheme due to leakage of info the New England said they would sign him if he were released. Seems like tampering, at the very least.
There was leakage?
What I read from the story is that Pittsburgh is a dumb organization.
Bingo
How did NE cheat?
Alec Kinnear, I agree with you.
Just another *asterisk for that shady franchise !
Poor Mr. Wayne.
Basically if AB can do this, everyone that is playing for a team they don’t like should do it too.
Yeah, they could and they have.
I said everyone and I doubt everyone has.
The anti-Patriot Sour Grapes league has official begun play/
Dude, what kind of license do you need to drive that wambulence? If you’re seriously blaming the pats you need your head checked.
Oh you poor thing
You realize the raiders didn’t have to cut him…
Antonio Brown made it impossible for the Raiders not to cut him. He physically threatened the GM, published confidential contract documents online and illegally tapes and published a conversation with the head coach.
There’s a whole bunch of illegal activity here, some of which could send Mr. Brown to jail. At this point, that’s probably where he belongs. Or an insane asylum.
Take your pick: if Antonio Brown is sane, he belongs in jail. If he’s insane, he belongs in an mental hospital.
Total clown
On the surface, it doesn’t look like the Patriots themselves could be punished for any wrongdoing, but the NFL has every right to go after AB himself. Paying consultants to help him force his release from an NFL contract can definitely be considered “conduct detrimental to the NFL.”
^ this
Did anybody else notice what’s written on his hat? hahahaha
They been using this pic for a few days.
Despite his talent, based upon his attitude and behavior toward both the Steelers and the Raiders (WHILE UNDER CONTRACT) should have compelled EVERY OTHER NFL team to ignore his availability and let AB remain unemployed.
Teams aren’t compelled by principle, they’re compelled by wins
I would’ve stayed away from brown
The winner in the whole ordeal is the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Anyone who thinks the Browns are winning the AFC North must not follow the NFL very closely. They are so overrated this year!
No way the could of got a first round pick.
It’s a low risk move for the Pats.If he stays in line they have one of the best receivers in the league if he starts bs he’ll hit the highway
Everything over time sets precedent. The Patriots shouldn’t be penalized anymore than the Seahawks for taking Brown off the market.
But if they think other elite players aren’t watching Brown’s antics as leverage to maneuver/force a trade (or contract), heh, guess again. The NFL better keep up. Because if there’s not something in place to levy tampering, contract holdout activity could grow into a whole new monster in terms of negotiations.
I wouldn’t be surprised is AB gets some kind of penalty from up above if threatening Mayock’s personal safety turns out to be fact.
If he said what he’s accused of sharing then he can be suspended for the max length which is 4 games. He’s not the first player to worm his way out of a contract just look up Blount, and Owens.
Whatever the penalty is, if this becomes a new social media trend they’ll have to make it less worthwhile for the next “Patriots” to take such a care-free advantage.
Like if the negotiations fizzle out before a season even starts from helmets and balls punting in the air for a team, any recipient team from that should have to wager more than a cheap 1-year deal. That just seems too easy to finagle.
It’s possible a team like the Patriots could’ve had that added up weeks in advance as a possibility.
Yes, it would seem appropriate that New England should have to take over Antonio Brown’s contract and pay the compensation to Pittsburgh if they want to sign and play him.
Players being allowed to “force their way” out of contracts is an astonishingly awful precedent. There have been other examples with, for instance, personality conflicts. Those were at least somewhat genuine. But there was no personality conflict in Oakland. Gruden bent over backwards to accomodate Brown and keep on the team.
No this is clear bad faith by Antonio Brown – he was under contract – and he should lose his season for his behaviour. I don’t see a way to punish the Patriots here legally at this point (though the tampering experts and NFL lawyers might find a way) but the league will have to put rules in place to put an immediate stop to this kind of nonsense.
Allowing the Patriots to profit off of this kind of behaviour will create immediate and long-term problems in the league. The NFL has a bad enough image already, National Felons League. If it turns into bad reality TV, with a weekly dishonour your contract sweepstakes, there’s an even larger contingent of fans who will tune out.
So the guy who has been called an idiot by everyone during this entire drama is now suddenly the brilliant mastermind behind a complex conspiracy to get himself to the Patriots? I’d say Antonio isn’t the only person who needs a new helmet.
^ I wish you could like posts on here, lol
it’s only fair that the NFL Define the rule and the penalty ahead of time. Retroactive penalties for hypothetical undefined violations are an injustice. can anyone specifically point to a rule out there that specifies exactly what Antonio Brown did wrong and exactly what that penalty is? it seems to me that if there’s no rule out there then there’s no penalty and you can make a rule after the fact for the next occurrence. That seems more reasonable.
I don’t condone Antonio Brown’s Behavior and I agree that it will set a bad precedent but I think there has to be a new rule made Define exactly the do’s and don’ts and the penalties
if I had to guess how this will all turn out my gut tells me that the Patriots will be asked to give the Raiders draft picks that they lost and that Antonio Brown will be suspended a couple of games for his altercation with the Raiders general manager.
Conduct detrimental to the League. It’s a blanket rule.
Deliberately signing and then reneging on a contract leaves you awfully vulnerable to being sued. So quite outside league rules, Antonio Brown is personally responsible for any damage to the Oakland Raiders season. If the Oakland Raiders suffer in their passing game this year (there’s every reason to suspect they will), they could sue Antonio Brown for damages, particularly if he plays well in New England. The Patriots if there’s even a hint that there was a nod and a wink in Rosenhaus’s direction, could be named as a co-defendant.
What Antonio Brown did is not only against league rules, it’s illegal.
The guy is a total whack job clown, he will push himself out of the league by seasons end…no way an ego maniac of his level will be able to concede to another player or players
AB took a page out of the NBA players handbook. When you want out, force your way out. Works every time.
Oh I believe he never had any intention of playing for the Raiders. All of this was done to force their hand into releasing him.
Lot of complaining on these posts. The people complaining seem to forget AB went from a $50M ($31M guaranteed) contract to a one year $9M guaranteed $15M contract. Huge difference. It’s not like he shot his way out of Oakland and landed more $ to play for NE. He lost a lot of $. He will not be suspended and he said the cracker comment is a lie. That would have to be proven and who knows what Mayock said to him. This is done business. It may or may not work for the Patriots but it’s certainly worth a shot.
lots of complaints! everyone is forgetting one detail..the Raiders didn’t have to release him! they could’ve made him sit and stew and deal him away at they’re leisure! so,who’s fault is it?..the raiders that’s who and the Steelers for not taking that 1st round pick for him!
It’s also kind of comical that a few dozen hours ago, there were tons and tons of comments that said, “What idiot would sign this head case.” Now? “HEY!! They cheated!”
That Brown was immediately signed by the Patriots is the smoking gun already. The Patriots knew/know that Brown is not the headcase he is playing on Twitter and national TV.
I am not a Patriots fan, Brown is the one we should blame for this entire fiasco.
By forcing a trade out of Pittsburg, then pull the same stunt with the Raiders to get where he always wanted to be. The league must step in and do something, or this type of child-like behavior will become common in the NFL. Sad day for the league, the fans, and players alike. If something is not done, this type of behavior will become common-place throughout the league. It should be an honor to play in the NFL, with the chance of making millions playing a game. The only game I see now is the one Brown has masterfully played to usurp league rules and get his way.
I’m by no way condoning AB’s actions- I don’t really know what to think of the situation since there’s a lot of conjecture and hear-say but AB’s actions are typical of the modern athlete with their unprecedented player power. Look at the example of Carlos Tevez in the worlds most popular sport- soccer. In 2011 Tevez was angry at not being in the starting 11 vs Bayern Munich and when asked to come on as a substitute in the 2nd half he refused to go in to the game. When the team tried to enforce a fine after the game he fled back to his native Argentina and sat out the rest of the season. What!? After sitting on his couch in Argentina for about 6 mos he was allowed to come back into the squad and play for the team for the following season! Crazy turn of events
Nice hat. No class.
I’ve intentionally stayed away from this allegation but can’t help pointing out one factor that seems to be overwhelmingly disregarded: he used the language of his contract.
There’s absolutely nothing illegal in what he’s alleged to have to done “to get out” of his contract with Oakland.
Also, when considering the history of NFL contracts in addition to its concern/interest in players after their careers end … two major factors contributing to the recent increase in demands for guaranteed money, not reporting, and sitting out … the taking an “ethical/moral” opposition is an even deeper & darker rabbit hole.
There are lawyers who’s sole purpose is to write iron-clad contracts and there are just as many to find loopholes/exit routes in those contracts.
Like a lot of repeatedly pointed out, PA was not going to trade AB to NE.
He got his wish to leave PA then got out of his new contract to be able to choose for himself where he would play next.
Until the (highly doubtful) smoking gun appears proving communication between AB and NE at any point before his official release by Oakland … then this all boils down to AB using “The System” to his advantage.
Call it unethical but it’s legal and … as far as I know … unprecedented in the NFL.
… but if you must blame someone, blame LeBron for starting the unthinkable “I’m going to play where I want to play”
imagine that lol
ps: don’t take this as a troll or insult; completely & only my opinion
All these people hating on Brown (rightfully so)..
But why hasn’t anyone commented that he could have went to the Browns?
Can you imagine that WR corps? Full of drama and still a dumpster fire of a team (I’m a Browns fan). But good lord, that wideout group would be unstoppable.