It’s been an up-and-down day for Antonio Brown.
On Thursday morning, ESPN’s Josina Anderson reported that the former New England Patriots wide receiver was finally expected to meet with the league on Nov. 14 regarding the civil allegations of sexual assault and rape made towards Brown by former trainer Britney Taylor.
The meeting would be the first time Brown has met with the league since the allegations, and Anderson reported Brown was “eager to present his side” and teams are “still interested in signing him pending the resolution of the league’s investigation.”
But it could be some time before the NFL’s investigation is wrapped up. According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, next week’s meeting “could spur others” and the investigation is “not expected to conclude any time soon.”
Taylor says Brown sexually assaulted her on three occasions, according to a lawsuit filed on Sept. 10 in the Southern District of Florida. At the time, Taylor said she was willing to cooperate with the NFL and reportedly met with the NFL for 10 hours on Sept. 16.
It wasn’t long after the reports from Anderson and Rapoport that the wide receiver took to social media to call out the NFL, declaring he’ll “never play again.”
“Imagine conforming to a system giving it a 100 percent to see them treat me like this is unfairly !” Brown wrote in the since-deleted tweet. “Making money off my sweat and blood F*** the @nfl I’ll never play in that sh** treat black people the worse! Clear my name and go f*** your self”
The profanity-laden tweet predictably caused a stir in the NFL world, but it wasn’t long before the embattled wide receiver was walking back his original comments.
Brown’s journey to this point is well-documented. The former All-Pro was traded by the Pittsburgh Steelers to the Oakland Raiders last March, at the behest of Brown. He subsequently forced himself out of the Bay Area after a string of bizarre incidents over the summer, including a reported physical run-in with Raiders general manager Mike Mayock.
The 31-year-old signed with the Patriots mere hours after being released by the Raiders, but was cut after reportedly sending “intimidating” text messages to a woman accusing him of sexual misconduct.
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