My god winning Super Bowls is so easy. I have no idea why everyone else doesn’t do it. Antonio Brown signed a 1 year deal worth up to $15 million ($9 million guaranteed) with the New England Patriots on September 7th, 2019. The terms of the contract are relatively unsurprising given that he clearly wanted guaranteed money.
The Raiders took that away from him, which seemed to set him off more than anything else. When he was released, the Patriots offered him some guaranteed money and a second chance. I’m guessing there weren’t a whole lot of other teams willing to give him both of those things.
There is so much to like about this acquisition for us New England fans and even more to those that pray for the Patriots’ dynasty to crumble to the ground. For now, there are two outcomes to discuss; Brown either gets his act together and is a star wide receiver for the Patriots, or Brown continues to be mentally insane and create problems.
Scenario 1: Antonio Brown doesn’t cause problems
I genuinely think this is what’s going to happen. Based on the pessimism going around the internet, I’d imagine most people agree with me. The Patriots have a history of taking in talented wide receivers who have issues. They did it with Randy Moss, they did it with Chad Ochocinco, and they just last season took in Josh Gordon. Granted, Gordon didn’t totally work out last season, but from the outside it appears that he’s turning things around now. This is 100% thanks to the amount of support the Patriots gave him in overcoming his problems.
Antonio’s antics with the Raiders are simply not going to fly in New England. Can you imagine a scenario where he starts getting into altercations with Bill Belichick? William Stephen Belichick I? No, you can’t because that is IMPOSSIBLE. They won’t put up with him because at the end of the day, the Patriots know that they do not need Antonio Brown. Antonio Brown, on the other hand, definitely needs the Patriots at this point in his career.
If it turns out that the Patriots are able to tame Brown, you’re almost definitely looking at Super Bowl #7. People have been throwing around the idea of a 19-0 season, but I personally don’t hold my expectations that high. Great teams lose all the time; it just happens. The Patriots always drop a couple games they should win every year and I really don’t care that they do. I only care that they win in January and February when it matters, and even then sometimes they lose games they should win.
The Patriots depth chart at wide receiver now goes like this: Antonio Brown, Julian Edelman, Josh Gorodn, Demaryius Thomas, and N’Keal Harry. They are good.
Can you imagine being an opposing team’s secondary and lining up to have to stare down Antonio Brown, Julian Edelman and N’Keal Harry? How about being an opposing team’s Safteys and seeing that you’re about to have to track Antonio Brown, Damaryius Thomas and Josh Gordon? Or being an opposing linebacker and having to track Sony Michel, James White and Julian Edelman? The best part about this receiving corp is the amount of scary combination that it allows Belichick to throw at opposing defenses. He already gets head coaches spinning, but now no one even has a shot at outsmarting him.
Scenario 2: Antonio Brown Continues to Be a Problem
IF it so happens that Antonio Brown continues his antics the way he’s been doing with the Raiders, it is no problem for New England. All that will happen is that Brown will do something ridiculous and the Patriots will release him. Brown won’t have a job and the Patriots probably still win the Super Bowl anyway.
The thing is, it’s possible that Antonio Brown actually is a misunderstood person. He obviously has SOME issues and clearly has problem controlling his public image (or doesn’t care about it at all). It’s very easy to draw the conclusion that he’s just egotistical and wants attention. The thing is, he’s been one of the most dominant, if not the most dominant receiver in football over the last 4 or 5 years. He was getting plenty of attention.
I’m not making a concrete claim that Brown is misunderstood and is totally sane, because I have no real reason to believe it. All I’m saying is that I’m not drawing any conclusions yet. We don’t have conclusive evidence one way or the other. I’m excited to see what ends up happening here, but I also have no idea how this will turn out. If it works out, the Patriots have a dominant season and I’m happy. If it doesn’t work out, at least you guys can’t say that this was all some elaborate plot to get AB to New England (don’t get me started).
Either way, this is a win for me. For now, the most important thing is that ANTONIO BROWN IS A NEW ENGLAND PATRIOT!
