NFL wide receiver Antonio Brown made headlines the week of Sep. 9 what seems to be the final chapter in a seemingly never ending saga of drama beginning with his trade from the Pittsburgh Steelers. 

The dissonance began when Brown first live-streamed the Steelers locker room celebration after a win over the Kansas City Chiefs in the Divisional round of the 2017 playoffs. The Steelers immediately reacted, fining Brown $10,000.

“No, (the Steelers were not right to fine Brown) locker room speeches get recorded all the time, so why is this one case an exception?” said Daniel Baldwin, senior.

 It quieted down during the subsequent offseason, everything seemingly going according to plan for the team until December 2018, when Brown got into a dispute with teammate and starting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. Their fight culminated in Brown throwing a football at Roethlisberger and skipped practice.

The conflict continued through the spring of that year, with Brown claiming it was time to move on from the Steelers organization. The franchise began preparing to trade Brown. 

Brown was traded to the Oakland Raiders in March 2019 for a 3rd and a 5th round draft pick. The Raiders signed him to a three year, $50.1 million contract with $30 million guaranteed. Everything seemed all and well for the Raiders – until the helmet issues began.

The NFL instituted a new helmet policy that banned Brown’s longtime helmet from being used. He argued with coaches and was extremely vocal on social media about his hatred for the new policy. 

“His complaints weren’t justified. Everyone else including Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady have had to do the same thing and not a word was spoken about it from them.” said Lucas Wells, senior.

As the season came closer to kicking off, the drama escalated. While Brown had found a helmet that he was content playing with, multiple fines for missing training camp and mandatory practices did not sit well with Brown, who got into a verbal altercation with Raiders General Manager Mike Mayock. Afterwards, he gave an emotional apology to teammates with some team captains by his side. He then posted a two minute recorded phone call with Raiders Head Coach Jon Gruden. The following morning the receiver asked to be released and the Raiders granted it to him. That same day he signed with the New England Patriots, sending football fans everywhere into a frenzy. 

“I actually called it,” said Shane Barry, teacher and NFL fan. “Told my wife when he was released, ‘watch, he’ll sign with the Patriots.’ They’re opportunistic. Take chances without taking on too much risk. Smart for them when they have the climate to weather the storm of a crazy player like he is.”

Amid sexual assault and rape allegations, Brown played week two against Miami, getting four catches for 56 yards and a touchdown. 

“It was a good start. I was just trying to find an open guy and he was snapping off some routes and did a good job. It was good to find him.” said Tom Brady, quarterback via WEEI.com.

Brown’s brief tenure with the Patriots came to an end less than a week after he was signed, when the team decided to cut him.