It seemed all too neat. Mere hours after being released by the Oakland Raiders, Antonio Brown signed with the New England Patriots on Saturday.
The signing raised some red flags around the league due to its abrupt nature. This came after a several-week span that saw Brown act a bit off. It also comes after New England attempted to trade for Brown before the Pittsburgh Steelers ultimately dealt him to Oakland back in March.
Could an investigation by the NFL be looming? Not likely. That’s the word from NBC Sports veteran reporter Peter King.
“I was told by a league source that the league had no plans to investigate Brown’s behavior or the signing with New England, or whether it set a precedent that if a star player doesn’t like where he is, he can act up for three or four days and drive a team so crazy that it will release him,” King noted.
The NFL likely looked into this briefly before coming to the conclusion that an investigation was not warranted. Brown’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, has a good relationship with the Patriots. That’s likely what set off the red flags in the first place.
As it is, Brown joined the Patriots on a one-year, $15 million deal with a $9 million signing bonus.
Given how the defending champs looked against his former Steelers team Sunday night, that can’t be considered good news for the NFL’s 31 other teams.