Antonio Brown, the renowned wide receiver who scaled great heights early on in his career, recently reflected on his 4-year-old controversy during his brief spell with the New England Patriots. Soon after he had signed a new contract with the Patriots in 2019, Brown was asked to leave by the team. However, in order to get their wish fulfilled, the franchise had to pay him $5 million, that too when the WR had played just one game for them by that point.
Advertisement
Brown, who was accused of sending threatening texts to a woman back in 2019, recently claimed that he was actually blackmailed by the franchise to leave them. However, at the end of it, Brown walked away with a hefty settlement amount after playing just one game that season.
The Patriots Released Antonio Brown After Just One Game in 2019
Antonio Brown has been no stranger to controversies throughout his NFL career. Back in 2019, Brown’s former trainer, Britney Taylor had filed a civil lawsuit, accusing the NFL star of s*xually assaulting her on three occasions between 2017 and 2018. This lawsuit came in a couple of days after the wide receiver had signed a one-year contract with the Patriots.
However, trouble struck for Antonio Brown after it emerged that he had reportedly sent her a series of graphic messages as well. Post that, another woman accused Brown of sending her intimidating texts. The Patriots then immediately decided to release the promising wide receiver, despite his brilliant performance on the gridiron in his first and only game for the franchise.
Talking about that incident during his appearance on the “It Is What It Is” podcast, Brown accused the Patriots of blackmailing him, while also revealing that the franchise did end up paying him a whopping $5 million for his debut game against the Miami Dolphins, wherein he starred with four catches for 56 yards and a touchdown.
“They make up in the media, ‘AB texting this girl.’ Now the NFL got to blackball me because they don’t want players to see all the moves I made and make other people do it. So now they just got to dub me. They said I texted a girl whom they were using to blackmail me regarding playing ball. The Patriots say he texts his girl some threats and now they have to release me. They ended up still paying me $5 million for one game in 2019 but they just wanted to make an emphasis – We can’t make this guy right, we can’t make him win with Tom Brady,” Brown said.
Brown’s tenure with the Patriots lasted for only a few days. However, despite all this, the wide receiver managed to earn an incredible amount in return for his New England stint. In 2021, Brown ended up settling the civil lawsuit with Britney Taylor, but no terms were revealed in public.
Antonio Brown’s Infamous Texting Scandal
The lawsuit filed by Britney Taylor claimed that Brown had allegedly kissed and exposed himself without her consent in 2017. A couple of days after the allegations were made, another report stated that Antonio Brown had sent a different woman a few intimidating messages.
In the incident involving the second woman, which was reported by Robert Klemko of Sports Illustrated, Brown was accused of making unwanted s*xual advances towards a mural painting artist back in 2017. The woman had asked the NFL to intervene through a detailed letter which also contained screenshots of the threats made by Brown. Needless to say, such controversies played a massive role in orchestrating the downfall of Antonio’s football career.
