Patriots: Tom Brady-Antonio Brown reunion is embarrassing for both parties
By Adam Weinrib
Former New England Patriots Tom Brady and Antonio Brown just reunited in Tampa Bay. Of course. Gross, gross stuff.
By far the biggest blight on the Patriots’ 2019 season was the bizarre several-week saga that featured finagling Antonio Brown out of his Raiders deal before he wore out his welcome severely.
Brown’s Pats tenure ultimately featured one game in Miami before a series of bombshell allegations resulted in his dismissal from the team and the league. Despite all the lip service given to his residing in Tom Brady’s home and the rehabilitation opportunity ahead of him in New England after he froze his own feet in a cryo-tube (never underrate 2019’s craziness), Brown was out of the league once again quicker than a hurry-up offense, and Bill Belichick’s maneuver to bring him to town with a black cloud hanging over his head looks like a morality-blind gambit today.
Surely, that was the end of Brown, right? After all, the allegations of criminal behavior mounted during his absence, featuring a public police stand-off and several exposés. Well, you’re not going to believe this, but Tom Brady has reunited with the troubled weapon he inexplicably never stopped endorsing. Brown is a Buccaneer and it was almost entirely Brady’s doing, lending a new beginning to an extremely unsavory tale.
Tom Brady also called @TonyRobbins and got him to have a very long conversation with Antonio Brown earlier this year so the WR would be on track for his NFL return, sources tell me. https://t.co/0Km8JMrQdt
— Andy Slater (@AndySlater) October 23, 2020
We’re not saying we don’t believe in second chances. We’re saying we don’t believe in a 40th chance for this supremely undeserving and unrepentant man.
And Brady’s excessive advocacy for Brown is starting to verge into borderline bizarre territory. How much is Brady willing to overlook for the addition of yet another weapon? What is it about Brown in particular, who’s balled up and tossed away every additional opportunity he’s been given in recent years, that has Brady visiting him during Super Bowl week and calling up Tony Robbins to give him motivational talks?!
Brady has repeatedly domineered his head coach Bruce Arians during his short time in Tampa, overruling him to import Rob Gronkowski, and explicitly engineering an AB move despite the fact that Arians outright said the wide receiver wasn’t a fit in the locker room.
Tom Brady wanted Gronk and Antonio Brown this year. Bruce Arians was indifferent to Gronk, and publicly stated there was no room for Brown.
— Ben Volin (@BenVolin) October 24, 2020
Guess who won?
Arians was right. Brown is not a fit. And any NFL team that takes a flyer on him at this point should be embarrassed.
That’s what’s so strange. Brady’s advocacy isn’t a flyer. It’s somehow become a core belief in his mind that Brown is necessary for his success and final steps of his legacy. We don’t understand the obsession, and this pairing feels just as unsavory this year (if not more so) as it did in Foxborough.
