Antonio Brown is a handful. Nobody is denying that. He’s potentially much more than that. Fresh off sexual assault allegations, theNew England Patriotsreleased the contentious wide receiver this morning. Theyreleased a statementsaying:
“The New England Patriots are releasing Antonio Brown. We appreciate the hard work of many people over the last 11 days, but we feel that it is best to move in a different direction at this time. “
Meanwhile, Patriots owner Bob Kraft, who faces his own sex crime charges ofsoliciting prostitution, is still sitting comfortably in his owner’s box. The NFL and the Patriots have done nothing.
To be clear, the two are obviously in different positions of power. The Patriots can release Brown because he’s just a player. Bob Kraft owns the team; nobody can release him except theNFL, or maybe himself. And both have been equally quiet on that front.
Antonio Brown’s Final Straw
The Patriots, who are well-known for taking ontroublesome players, have finally had it with Brown. The former Pittsburgh Steeler was accused of sendingthreatening text messagesto one of the two women accusing him of sexual assault. The Patriots, who stayed with him and even let him play a game after the allegations surfaced, apparently could not look past this latest mishap.
I’m not saying that they should’ve kept him. It’s well within their right to let go of a team member facing such serious charges. The problem is that their owner is wrapped up in his own sex charges and he’s been relatively unbothered.
The NFL and Bob Kraft
Kraft was charged with soliciting sex prostitution at a Florida spa in February. An investigation found that women were being kept in “sexual servitude” at the Orchids of Asia Day Spa, where Kraft was caught.
The NFL and its commissioner Roger Goodell have yet to take any disciplinary action, which seems to contradict their policies. In 2014, they updated theirpersonal conduct policyto say:
“We must endeavor at all times to be people of high character; we must show respect for others inside and outside our workplace; and we must strive to conduct ourselves in ways that favorably reflect on ourselves, our teams, the communities we represent, and the NFL. ”
Adding,
“In order to uphold our high standards, when violations of this Personal Conduct Policy do occur, appropriate disciplinary action must follow.”
They also claim to hold “owners, coaches, players, other team employees” and more to the same standards. To be fair, Antonio Brown’s threatening texts provided actual proof that, at the very least, he has a questionable character. It’s not like Kraft has, I don’t know,video proofof him engaging in sex crimes just floating around …
If nothing else, the dichotomy is just another reminder that sports execs are playing an entirely different game than the players. We saw this in NBA when former LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling got away with years ofracist behaviorbefore finally getting pushed out. In this case, both men are facing very serious allegations. Both men have denied culpability. And neither has been found guilty in a court of law. But only one of them is out of a job. It seems like the NFL needs another policy update.
September 21, (1:) AM
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