Sorry if this has already been beaten to death, but this article is an interesting take on his move from Pittsburgh, through Oakland, to NE. If it's even only somewhat accurate, he played Pit and Oak like cheap fiddles, and NE may (yet again) be complicit in (at least) shady dealing, if not outright tampering.
https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2019/9/9/20857152/antonio-brown-conspiracy-corner-patriots-raiders-steelers
It's safe to say AB has rocks for brains lol
Since arriving in Pats Central, it's like AB has entered the NFL witness protection program...
$30mm guaranteed. 3/50 was the contract with Raiders
He’s not hitting the incentives to get to 15mm this year. Look them up. No receiver in NE has ever had the #s he needs to hit to trigger them.
He won’t see the $20 next year either.
It’s 30 vs 9. The guaranteed portions.
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Option for next year...2 years and 35 million if he hits incentives... What was the original Oakland deal for?
$30mm guaranteed. 3/50 was the contract with Raiders
He’s not hitting the incentives to get to 15mm this year. Look them up. No receiver in NE has ever had the #s he needs to hit to trigger them.
He won’t see the $20 next year either.
It’s 30 vs 9. The guaranteed portions.
but the 9 is guaranteed for just this year and it will probably wind up 11 or close for just the one year. the NLTBE incentives are just 4.5M. The rest, if he's healthy are salary and games played bonuses.
and then next year he starts over again and if he has a good year picks his destination - either NE or otherwise.
There is at least suspicion he orchestrated this.
And you need to consider the player. Antonio Brown is not Le'Veon Bell or a youngster, he's earned (after this year's guaranteed money) over $80M just from salary - not including endorsements or other money.
So, sure he may bypass 30M guaranteed paid over the first couple years for maybe 25 (at the end of the 2 years), but if he feels like it's a better situation it's probably worth it to him - more than someone who is just in it for the money at their age.
No need for such a silly narrative.
I can buy the argument Brown wanted out to a degree. But I think his urge to get out came last week when the Raiders levied the heavy fine ($200K+), and essentially made his salary conditional week to week.
But the Pats as a co-conspirator? LOL. Did you see the Pats hang 33 on Pittsburgh on Sunday night? They basically had an answer for every single route on the route tree. They don’t need Brown. He’s a luxury item. Will they potentially figure out how to use him to get more lethal? Sure. But if he doesn’t work out, they will just reassemble the widgets and figure it out...
So Belichick, Rosenhaus and Brown triangulated some time during these last six months to orchestrate a move to get Brown out of Oakland to sign with the Pats.
And Belichick, the svengali, was scripting out what Brown should do to force his release in Oakland?
Quote:
Option for next year...2 years and 35 million if he hits incentives... What was the original Oakland deal for?
$30mm guaranteed. 3/50 was the contract with Raiders
He’s not hitting the incentives to get to 15mm this year. Look them up. No receiver in NE has ever had the #s he needs to hit to trigger them.
He won’t see the $20 next year either.
It’s 30 vs 9. The guaranteed portions.
It'll be hard to hit those marks after missing 1 game, but on their own 105 rec, 1298 yds, and 16 TDs aren't that absurd. AB has caught >105 rec 4x in his career and just missed it the last 2 seasons (104 and 101) and he's topped 1298 yards 4x and missed it twice (1297 and 1284). He's never had 16 TDs, but did finish with 15 last season so not unheard of.
And it's not a coincidence those marks are exactly 1 more rec, 1 more yard, and 1 more TD than he had last season. I believe that qualifies them as "not likely to be earned" and thus they would hit next year's cap.
As for those marks more generally, Cris Carter and Randy Moss have topped them. Harrison and Rice each finished 1 TD short. If you only look at the receptions/yards bonuses, there have been 46 times in NFL history that a WR had >105 rec and >1300 yards
Link - ( New Window )
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This wasn’t orchestrated by the Pats and Brown. The plan was to get cut this year or hold out all this season to get traded or released before next season. Pats couldn’t make the trade this off season but Brown was going there regardless. There has to be a trail and collusion, but the nfl won’t look into it so BB will get away with it....again.
I can buy the argument Brown wanted out to a degree. But I think his urge to get out came last week when the Raiders levied the heavy fine ($200K+), and essentially made his salary conditional week to week.
But the Pats as a co-conspirator? LOL. Did you see the Pats hang 33 on Pittsburgh on Sunday night? They basically had an answer for every single route on the route tree. They don’t need Brown. He’s a luxury item. Will they potentially figure out how to use him to get more lethal? Sure. But if he doesn’t work out, they will just reassemble the widgets and figure it out...
^This. The conspiracy ignores all the shit he pulled to force his way out of Pitt in the first place.