Antonio Brown managed to get his way by signing with the New England Patriots after his release from the Oakland Raiders. According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, the Patriots tried to acquire Brown via trade in March when the Pittsburgh Steelers made the All-Pro receiver available.
Patriots tried to trade for Antonio Brown in March, but Steelers did not want to trade him to a rival. So instead of having to give up a pick or picks for him in March, Patriots get Brown without having to compensate another team in September.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 8, 2019
At the time, the Steelers were ready to do business with a team to trade their elite receiver to rid of his distractions. However, Pittsburgh provided a caveat that they wouldn't deal him to a rival in the AFC North—or the Patriots.
Instead, New England will end up with Brown all along but they didn't have to surrender any draft capital to acquire him. The Patriots were able to land Brown less than an hour following 4 p.m. ET, which was when the receiver could sign with another team.
As a result of the signing, many fans and media members have questioned the legitimacy of the signing. Many have expressed their belief that the Patriots and Brown were working together behind closed doors to make this happen.
It's tough to imagine that Brown would create controversy that only hurt himself and would lose out on $30 million by forcing his release from Oakland. New England just continues to work their magic by bringing in players who have concerns in their character.
The Patriots have done this before when they acquired Randy Moss from the Raiders in 2007. That season, New England went on to win 18 straight games before losing to the New York Giants in the Super Bowl.
Now, the reigning Super Bowl champs ended up getting the pass-catcher that they wanted all along without having to trade draft picks. A tip of the cap deservedly goes to Bill Belichick.
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