By Mark Cannizzaro
https://nypost.com/2019/09/07/patriots-deserve-hell-for-shameful-antonio-brown-scheme/
September 7, 2019
(Mark J. Rebilas/USA Today Sports)
After the Raiders finally released the Diva Formerly Known as Antonio Brown on Saturday, the talented-but-troubled receiver shockingly became available to sign with any NFL team as a free agent at exactly 4:01 p.m. Saturday.
Presumably, at 4:02 p.m., the NFL’s reigning reclamation project experts, the Patriots, called.
Brown and the Patriots agreed to a one-year contract worth up to $15 million, according to ESPN, just hours after the Raiders shockingly released the 31-year-old superstar wide receiver.
Brown — who won’t be permitted to play in the Pats’ Week 1 matchup against his former team, the Steelers — confirmed the signing, which includes a $ 9 million signing bonus, by sharing a Photoshop illustration of him in a Patriots jersey.
“LFG (expletive) #GodsPlan,” the tweet read.
Shame on the Patriots. They should get what they deserve with Brown, which at the very least is a collective season-long migraine headache, but at the worst a team torn apart by the nonsensical distractions Browns brings with him.
Raiders head coach Jon Gruden and his team, whose offseason and training camp were marred by one incident after another involving Brown (each more unbelievable and ridiculous than the other), should hope they parted ways in time to save their 2019 season.
Brown — for all his greatness on the field, for his 837 career receptions for more than 11,000 yards and for the 74 touchdowns he’s produced in nine NFL seasons — is not worth the trouble.
Not even for Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and the Patriots. The world of sports is full of enablers. Count the Patriots as the kings of the enablers today.
Enough already.
Haven’t teams seen enough of Brown’s act, which has included accidentally freezing his feet in an offseason cryotherapy session, threatening to retire because he wanted to wear his old helmet that was outlawed by the league for lack of safety, missing practices and meetings, inciting a verbal altercation in the middle of practice with his new general manager, then the clincher, that bizarre video he put out Friday exposing private telephone conversations with Gruden?
The NFL should be finished with Brown. The only endgame justice to this Brown story is that this all blows up on the Patriots.
“We just have exhausted everything,’’ Gruden, who went out of his way to make it work, said Saturday. “We tried every way possible to make it work. I’m sorry it didn’t. I apologize, but I will tell you that I am very proud of what we did as an organization to try.’’
Gruden, who called Brown “the most misunderstood” person he’s met, said, “I tell you, he’s a good guy. He’s misunderstood by a lot of people. He’s a good guy. He’s a great player and I hope he gets what he’s looking for.”
Sorry, he doesn’t deserve it. Brown, who signed a contract with Oakland that gave him $30 million in guaranteed money and was to pay him $20 million per year, never played a game for the Raiders and threw that all away.
Brown’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, as soon as the news of Brown’s release broke, issued a statement that read: “Now that Antonio is a free agent, we are focused on the future and I will immediately work on signing him to a new team. Antonio is looking forward to a new beginning.”
There should have been no new beginning in the NFL for Brown — especially after how hard Gruden tried to make it work, playing good cop in the saga while GM Mike Mayock played the bad cop.
On that bizarre YouTube video Brown released Friday, you could hear Gruden pleading with Brown to stop the off-the-field nonsense and “just play football.”
“I’m more than just a football player, man,” Brown answered. “I’m a real person. It ain’t about the football, I know I can do that. This is my life. Ain’t no more games.”
That’s actually the first thing out of Brown’s mouth that made any sense. There should, indeed, have been no more games — off or on the field — for him.
Shame on the Patriots.
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