Getty Wide Receiver Antonio Brown #17 of the New England Patriots warms up prior to the game against the Miami Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium on September 15, 2019 in Miami, Florida.
Antonio Brown is looking to make amends — again — for his behavior that stole headlines and got him exiled from the NFL last fall.
The prolific wide receiver showed remorse during an insightful interview on Friday with ESPN’s Josina Anderson, coming just two days after NFL commissioner Roger Goddell stated the league was more concerned with Brown’s well-being than his potential return to the field.
“I think I owe the whole NFL an apology and my past behavior,” Brown told Anderson. “I think I could have done a lot of things better.”
Brown was traded from the Pittsburgh Steelers to the Oakland Raiders last offseason and figured to a game-changing talent for Jon Gruden’s team, but several off-field incidents led to him being released before he played in a single regular-season game. He then signed with the New England Patriots and played one game, only to be released after two different women alleged sexual misconduct against him within a 10-day span.
Most recently, Brown was arrested in January and charged with felony burglary with battery, burglary of an unoccupied conveyance and criminal mischief after an altercation with a moving truck driver in Florida. He was released from house arrest earlier this week, but he was forced to turn over his firearms and passport as he awaits trial.
“I was pleased to hear that after 140 days that there was some positivity about me because as of late I’ve just been the cancer of the NFL,” Brown said via ESPN in reference to Goodell’s comments last Wednesday. “The problem child, the guy who gets in trouble, the kind of guy who has the bad narrative about him.”
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Brown Feels Like He’s ‘Already Guilty’
Brown covered a number of topics in Friday’s sit-down with Anderson, but one of the most interesting points in their conversation was, by far, the most relevant: the sexual misconduct allegations.
While it can be easy to try imagining where Brown could play if he returns to the league, his comeback should not even be entertained until after the NFL has completed its thorough investigation into the allegations. There is also the obvious matter of his pending court date for the January disputes, which, too, could result in keeping him on the outside of the NFL.
Brown has denied both accusations and told Anderson “the court will handle that stuff,” but he also said he believes in some cases women have targetted him with accusations of wrongdoing.
“I feel like I never really got in a conflict with no woman,” Brown told Anderson. “I just feel like I’m a target so, anybody can come against me and say anything (that) I have to face. There’s no support, there’s no egos, there’s no rules in it, anyone can come after me for anything. No proof or whatever. ‘He said, she’s saying.’
“The media will run with it, so even if I’m not guilty, I already guilty because they already wrote it, put it on TV and put that in people minds. So for me to have to sit here and hear those the allegations of me is just unfair to me every time.”
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