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The Antonio Brown saga just continues to keep getting more interesting. After the prima donna wide receiver executed his way from the Oakland Raiders to the New England Patriots over the weekend — which set the NFL world on fire — news came out this morning that the team actually might have the star wideout for longer than first reported.
Initial reports had Antonio Brown signing a deal with the Pats for one-year and $15 million, which included a $9 million signing bonus. While those are the accurate figures in the deal, ESPN’s Adam Schefter added one caveat that reportedly happened — the Patriots added a full-guaranteed options year for 2020 at $20 million, which was done for cap proration purposes.
Patriots added an option year for Antonio Brown in 2020 at $20 million which becomes guaranteed if executed, per source. It was done to help for cap proration purposes this season.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 9, 2019
Does this mean that Antonio Brown is definitely going to be part of the Pats for longer than this year? Not definitely, but it does increase the chances of it happening, meaning he may not be a one-year reclamation project who bolts the reigning Super Bowl champs for a bigger payday after this season. It also puts the onus on Brown to play nice and behave in the “Patriot Way” in order for the team to exercise that $20 million deal next offseason.
After Schefter tweeted the news about the updated Brown contract, plenty of NFL fans weighed in, with most of them calling it embarrassing to the NFL that the All-Pro player somehow ended up with the Patriots.
Whole thing is a joke. NFL should be embarrassed by this and seriously look into how this really went down.
— Brogs (@rogness_bryan) September 9, 2019
— BrookLopezFanClub🏆 (@ClubBrook) September 9, 2019
Lmaooo. AB wouldn’t play on a week to week basis for the Raiders, but he’s fine with this? Such a 🤡. 🖕🖕🖕
— Austin Wagner (@A_Wagnerrr_2015) September 9, 2019
AB finessed his way to the greatest dynasty in the sport, to be coached by the greatest coach of all time, and play with the greatest QB of all time — all while making the same amount of money. pic.twitter.com/r4n5DNmuLP
— Yoni (@OriginalYoni) September 9, 2019
— 𝖂𝖍𝖎𝖙𝖊 𝕮𝖍𝖔𝖈𝖔𝖑𝖆𝖙𝖊 🍫 (@MattyB_923) September 9, 2019
This is cheating. This should be illegal. This is unfair.
— Ossy FA (@maaziossy) September 9, 2019
We all know the Patriots tampered and colluded with AB. They wanted him bad but the Steelers wouldn't trade him to them. So, AB colluded pulling his stunts, asking to be released, so the Patriots could sign him.
— David L. Dillard (@ChristianDave50) September 9, 2019
While there was some initial thought that Antonio Brown worked a deal to the Pats behind closed doors — and that he never really wanted to play for the Raiders at all — all that collusion talk is hard to prove. That said, from releasing recorded calls with Jon Gruden in videos to acting a fool during his entire time with the Raiders, it’s hard not to at least think Brown wanted nothing to do with Oakland, and everything to do with the New England Patriots.