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Antonio Brown has a lot of question marks surrounding his NFL future right now, among other things, given the recent sexual assault allegations. But, in the short-term, the new New England Patriots wide receiver will be eligible to play in Week 2 against the Miami Dolphins. That’s according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, who tweeted out that, per sources, Brown will not be put on the NFL’s Exempt List, which would have made him ineligible to play as the league investigated the allegations against him. The reason? Because there’s no criminal investigation at the moment.
At this point, NFL will not place Antonio Brown on commissioner exempt list, as there is no criminal investigation, making him eligible to play Sunday vs. Miami, per sources. NFL has opened its investigation, which will include interviews with Antonio Brown and his accuser.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 13, 2019
In an ESPN article following the league’s decision to allow Antonio Brown to play, it’s believed that the NFL has opened up its own investigation into the matter, and will conduct interviews with both Brown and Britney Taylor, the player’s former trainer who filed the sexual assault lawsuit earlier this week, which accused the All-Pro of sexually assaulting her on three occasions in 2017 and 2018.
As for the reaction from Patriots head coach Bill Belichick after hearing the news about his new offensive playmaker, he offered up his usual, close to the vest reply.
“We’ll do what’s best for the team.” He later added that the team is trying to get Brown, who signed Monday, up to speed as quickly as possible.
“Long way to go, obviously. Not familiar with our offense,” Belichick said of Brown. “The systems he’s been in have been quite different. He’s working hard to pick it up and we’re working hard to get it to him.”
Although Belichick might be playing coy about the Antonio Brown — as he normally does with any player — it would seem that all systems are go for the wideout to suit up against the Miami Dolphins this weekend, meaning you should set your fantasy football lineups appropriately, because the guy could have a big day.
Not only are the Dolphins coming off a 59-10 drubbing at the hands of the Baltimore Ravens — where Ravens quarterback Lama Jackson tossed five touchdown passes in the blowout — but the game is in Miami, which is Brown’s hometown and where the sexual assault lawsuit was filed, meaning he could have extra motivation to ball out this Sunday. After news broke that Brown would be eligible to play, plenty of people on Twitter were pointing the finger at the league for, seemingly, helping the Patriots.
SMH the league hating on the Patriots YET AGAIN #6rings
— Foh Nem 🏆🏆🏆🏆 (@BurlyboyRig) September 13, 2019
What exactly does this guy have to do to get suspended? Deflate a football?
— Robbie Lewis (@SayHeyRob) September 13, 2019
https://twitter.com/Y2249911/status/1172519551579414530?s=20
https://twitter.com/GHamChill/status/1172519525411110914?s=20
https://twitter.com/Knicks_Addict/status/1172519702368854017?s=20
Who knows where things go from here, but, for now, Antonio Brown is officially ready to return to the gridiron and prove that he’s still the same All-Pro player he always has been.
(H/T ESPN)