Patriots coach and head of football operations Bill Belichick believes recently signed free agent Antonio Brown can be a major boost to the club's Super Bowl chances and an elite performer with a significant role. That belief led him to pursue the receiver vigorously in the offseason, when the Steelers first made him available, and again when Brown executed his release from Oakland to become a free agent last weekend.
Brown is expected to play for New England in Miami in Week 2 after practicing with the Patriots this week. The NFL has begun its investigation into a civil suit recently filed against Brown alleging multiple instances of sexual assault by Britney Taylor, his former trainer. Brown categorically denies all charges and the league investigation could take considerable time to conclude. There are no criminal charges currently pending and no evidence filed with any law enforcement agencies.
Unless the NFL determines something it believes warrants a change in Brown's roster status, he will remain on the active roster and not the commissioner's exempt list, league sources said. If on that list Brown would be paid while barred from the team (he is being paid just $59,000 per week on a minimal base salary of $1M and received $5M already in signing bonus). The Patriots say they will not comment further on the matter while the NFL investigates.
Belichick's pursuit of Brown dated back to his falling out with the Steelers at the end of the 2018 season. He was among the first executives to call about Brown's availability when the Steelers made it clear the perennial Pro Bowler had no future there. Initially, league sources said, when asked the price to land Brown the Steelers requested a first-round pick plus another player or draft pick of significance. Belichick immediately responded that would not a problem, but before he could put together any specific package the Steelers informed him that New England was among a small group of rivals with which management was no longer authorized to negotiate with.
Brown's preference from the onset was to leave Pittsburgh for the Patriots, according to sources with knowledge of the situation, and he eventually scuttled a trade to Buffalo and then quickly wore out his welcome in Oakland to end up there on what is essentially a one-year, $10 million deal, with another $5 million in incentives and a $20 million option for the 2020 season. This is not a receiver Belichick views as declining or peripheral, as evidenced by the steep price he was originally willing to pay for him in trade
Belichick has a history of taking on talented-but-troubled players, and while it has not always worked, he has supreme confidence in his ability to connect with them and make them buy into a winning team culture that goes beyond any individual (even Tom Brady).
