Patriots release wide receiver Antonio Brown

By Mark Daniels

The Providence Journal

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. —As it turns out, Antonio Brown wasn’t worth the headache.

The Patriots released the wide receiver on Friday. This comes 11 days after the team signed Brown to a one-year deal, worth up to $15 million. Brown’s tenure in New England was short, but full of controversy that the Patriots will gladly put behind them.

“The New England Patriots are releasing Antonio Brown,” a team spokesperson said in a statement. “We appreciate the hard work of many people over the past 11 days, but we feel that it is best to move in a different direction at this time.”

Brown made several posts on Instagram when the news broke. Below a photo of Bill Belichick, Brown wrote, “Appreciate ya.” Under a photo of him and Tom Brady, the caption read, “Love ya champ that was fun! #GoWinIt #DoitforMe”

On Twitter, Brown wrote, “Thank you for the opportunity Patriots #GoWinIt.”

Brown made his Patriots debut last week in Miami. He led the Pats in targets(eight) while finishing with four receptions for 56 yards and a touchdown. As it turns out, not even his on-field talent could save him from his off-field behavior.

This marks the second time Brown has been released in two weeks.

This year has been full of drama surrounding the five-time Pro Bowl receiver. Even before he came to the Patriots, his offseason with the Oakland Raiders was so ridiculous that even they released Brown after tradingmultiple draft picks for him. That’s what brought him to New England.

In Oakland, the stories were about strange Instagram posts, a mishap during a cryotherapy session and Brown nearly retiring due to a helmet. In Foxborough, the story only got worse as Brown’s former trainer Britney Taylor filed a civil lawsuit alleging she was sexually assault on three separate occasions. Taylor claims she was forcibly raped by Brown last year in his Miami-area home.

The Patriots reportedly were not aware of the civil lawsuit when they signed Brown. The NFL started to investigate the allegations this week, reportedly meeting with Taylor for 10 hours on Monday.

Just when you thought the drama would stop, another incident happened this week.

A woman who told Sports Illustrated that Brown made unwanted advances at her says she received “intimidating” text messages from the Patriots receiver on Wednesday night. Sports Illustrated provided screen shots of the texts as well as a letter the woman’s attorney sent to the NFL on Thursday.

On Monday, SI published a story about Brown’s behavior. In it included a story from this woman who was hired by the receiver to paint a mural of him in 2017. She alleges that Brown approached her naked with a small hand towel over his genitals. After she turned down his advances, she told SI that he didn’t pay for her services and stopped responding to her.

The woman was in touch with Sports Illustrated, again, this week. She shared screen shots of group text messages from a number that Brown gave to her back in 2017. The person she claims to be the receiver, accuses her of fabricating the story to get money. It includes photos of her children and asked the other recipients on the text chain to “look up her background history.” The person also calls the woman a “super broke girl.”

Her lawyer, Lisa. J. Banks, contacted the NFL and told the league the woman does not want money from Brown. The lawyer told SI, she contacted the NFL for conduct she deems “intimidating and threatening to our client, in violation of the NFL Personal Conduct Policy.”

SI contacted Brown’s attorney, Darren Heitner, who was included in the group chat. He didn’t respond in the chat, but told SI, he advised Brown to not contact the woman. Sports Illustrated also reported that the NFL set up a call between the woman’s attorney and league investigators.

This incident turned out to be the straw that broke the camel’s back in Foxborough.

Friday was a circus in Gillette Stadium. Bill Belichick said the team was looking into the situation before cutting his press conference short after three minutes due to the amount of Brown-related questions. When asked if there’s a point where this off field drama with Brown is too much, Belichick said, “I’m good. Thank you,” before walking off the podium.

Tom Brady also declined to comment about Brown and the receiver’s situation.

“I’m just focused on the Jets and thinking about what I can do to help the team win,” Brady said. “That’s what this week’s been about for me. Next week will be about the next opponent.”

The truth is, the Patriots don’t need Brown. The offense put up 33 points in Week 1 without the talented, but troubled playmaker. Now, they’ll move on with Julian Edelman, Josh Gordon, Phillip Dorsett, Jakobi Meyers and Gunner Olszewski at receiver. They’ll likely get N’Keal Harry back around Week 8.

The Brown-saga in Foxborough was short and forgettable. That is probably for the best.