According to a report, not everyone in New England was fully onboard with the decision to cut embattled former Patriots receiver Antonio Brown.
Brown’s 11 day tenure with the Patriots came to an end amid swirling accusations of rape and sexual misconduct. An end that, in the minds of many, was thought to be a unanimous decision among the Patriots top decision makers. However, after a report from Tom Curran of NBC Sports Boston, it’s looking like the decision to jettison Brown was anything but a team effort.
In an article published Thursday, Curran reports that while Patriots Owner Robert Kraft made the decision to cut Brown, his star quarterback wanted to go a different way.
Curran reports that Brady had conversations with Kraft in which he described himself as “one million percent in,” on Antonio Brown.
Curran then quoted a conversation between Brady and Westwood One’s Jim Grey, in which Brady seemed to suggest his decision would have been different than Kraft’s, had he been the owner.
“I don’t make any personnel decisions,” Brady explained. “I don’t decide to sign players. I don’t decide to trade then. I don’t decide to release them. I don’t decide to draft them. I don’t get asked, I show up and do my job. I’m an employee like everyone else. I’m going to show this week and do the best I can do as quarterback. … Maybe one day I will be an owner and I can make all the decisions that I want.”
As to Brady’s quote, Curran writes: “You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.”
As for Belichick’s mindset going into the decision to cut Brown, Curran writes: “I reported last Friday evening that the decision to release Brown was unanimous, that the threatening texts were a ‘bridge too far.’ After more conversations this week, I’ve come to understand that unanimous decision wasn’t easily reached. Belichick accepted the decision and understood it. But he was by no means leading the charge to move on — and if Kraft hadn’t insisted, Brown would probably still be here.”
It would take a serious situation indeed, to make Kraft rule against the two men most singularly responsible for building him the greatest sports dynasty in American history. Yet, Kraft apparently thought Brown presented just such a situation. With additional charges and allegedly menacing text messages to his accusers, Kraft evidently thought Brown wasn’t worth the trouble.
Whether he’s right remains to be seen.
Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter @themightygwinn
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