Former Raiders wideout Antonio Brown
This definitely is not going to cool down those rumors that Antonio Brown purposely got released so he could sign with the New England Patriots.
While Brown is now officially a member of the defending Super Bowl champions, there are many questions that have arisen since his release from the Raiders. Did Brown purposely engage in stupid social media antics to speed up his release from Oakland?
A new report by Chris Mortensen of ESPN does indeed confirm this. In fact, Brown sought advice from social media experts just so he could get out of Oakland.
Mission accomplished.
“Antonio Brown sought advice from professional social media consultants for ideas on how to accelerate his release from the Oakland Raiders, sources tell ESPN.
At least one consultant couldn’t tell whether Brown was serious or not, according to sources. Brown’s tumultuous tenure with the Raiders officially ended Saturday, when the Pro Bowl receiver was released by Oakland and signed with the New England Patriots.”
Did Antonio Brown Purposely Get Cut to Sign with Patriots?
Although the Patriots are the ones that ended up with the star wide receiver quickly after he officially became a free agent at 4:01 p.m ET, there were two other teams interested in Brown — the Cleveland Browns and the Seattle Seahawks.
However, New England was always the favorite.
“The Cleveland Browns and Seattle Seahawks also considered attempting to sign Brown on Saturday, according to sources, although the Patriots were always considered the front-runner.”
Antonio Brown Engaged in Odd Social Media Behavior Purposely
What transpired over the last several days is hard to believe, but it happened. Brown’s first misstep through social media was posting his team-related fine in which he took issue with Raiders general manager Mike Mayock fining him for two separate incidents which involved Brown missing team practices unexcused.
He proceeded to post a caption with the picture which showed his displeasure with the fines. This took place on Wednesday.
“WHEN YOUR OWN TEAM WANT TO HATE BUT THERE’S NO STOPPING ME NOW DEVIL IS A LIE. EVERYONE GOT TO PAY THIS YEAR SO WE CLEAR.”
The sequence of events thereafter just proceeded to get crazier. Brown then got into a heated exchanged with Mayock on Thursday, which reportedly involved the Pro Bowl wide receiver punting a football in Mayock’s direction along with also calling the general manager a racial slur.
After the Raiders considered suspending their diva wideout, they then backtracked and confirmed on Friday that he would play in Monday’s Week 1 opener versus the Denver Broncos. Brown even apologized to his teammates and attended practice.
Everything seemed fine and dandy until Friday night — when Brown posted a video of a recorded conversation between him and head coach Jon Gruden where the former takes issue with being portrayed as the bad guy.
As if that wasn’t weird enough, Brown then took to Instagram in the early morning hours on Saturday demanding his release after being fined over $215,000 for conduct detrimental to the team — his third team-related fine in less than a month. Oakland quickly granted his wishes and voided the $29 million in guarantees in his contract.
Although there has been no concrete evidence that supports this theory just yet, the fact that the Pats were always considered the favorite to sign Brown brings up the idea of collusion. Did Brown purposely throw a series of fits to get released by the Raiders all so he could sign with a Super Bowl contender such as New England?
It would be the definition of collusion — which is obviously against NFL league rules.
It obviously wouldn’t be the first time the Patriots have engaged in illegal behavior, being a part of two of the biggest scandals in NFL history with “Spygate” back in 2007 and “Deflategate” in 2015.
Could we be looking at “Antoniogate” in 2019?
Although that part hasn’t been confirmed, the confirmed report of Brown purposely engaging in idiotic social media behavior to speed up a release by the Raiders doesn’t help quell those rumors.
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