Las Vegas Raiders

Everything you need to know about Antonio Brown ending up with the New England Patriots

Published Sep. 7, 2019 8:13 p.m. ET

The drama between the Oakland Raiders and Antonio Brown reached its apex on Saturday morning, as Jon Gruden's squad officially released the superstar wide receiver — and just hours later, AB had a new team.

https://twitter.com/Raiders/status/1170365119215415299

When the news first broke on Saturday, everyone had the same joke: Wouldn't it be funny if Brown joined Bill Belichick, Tom Brady, and the Patriots?

https://twitter.com/kdk3/status/1170370782955999233

Yeah, well, about that — at 5:00 p.m. ET on Saturday afternoon, reports started to hit that Brown and New England had agreed to terms:

https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/1170441998391791619

https://twitter.com/ProFootballTalk/status/1170442290676060161

And AB confirmed the report:

https://twitter.com/NFLonFOX/status/1170447425070190592

Or, to put it another way...

https://twitter.com/billbarnwell/status/1170443131021606912

https://twitter.com/thecheckdown/status/1170445657368170497

Indeed, Brown was more than a little bit relieved to find out that he would no longer be employed by Oakland (WARNING: NSFW language):

https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/1170448141344223233

https://twitter.com/marcelluswiley/status/1170448549089144832

https://twitter.com/FanDuel/status/1170449296489177088

But let's back up just a little bit. All of this commotion went into motion early Saturday, when, after being fined and having the guaranteed money in his contract revoked, AB took to Instagram with a simple request for the Raiders — "release me."

https://www.instagram.com/p/B2HGYq2B2uT/

And his wish, of course, was granted:

via GIPHY

https://twitter.com/ScooterMagruder/status/1170442578354954240

The surprising — if not shocking — move came in the wake of AB releasing a highly-produced video on YouTube Friday night that featured recorded audio from Gruden:

https://twitter.com/RaiderCody/status/1170149143072792576

... a video that Gruden reportedly found "awesome".

https://twitter.com/mortreport/status/1170162050905116672

A few hours after the news broke, Gruden spoke to the media, saying that he believes Brown is simply "misunderstood":

https://twitter.com/Raiders/status/1170412725614174208

“We just have exhausted everything,” Gruden added. “We tried every way possible to make it work. And all I’m gonna say is, it’s disappointing. I’m really proud of our players, our coaches, our front office, our owner. We did everything we could to make this work. I’m sorry it didn’t. I apologize, but I’ll tell you, I’m very proud of what we did as an organization to try."

As for AB? He originally commented on social media prior to the news of his deal with the Patriots:

https://twitter.com/AB84/status/1170405981936730113

https://twitter.com/AB84/status/1170415487609520128

Our own Reggie Bush weighed in on the AB saga on Saturday, explaining that the Raiders needed Brown to be a leader — and that clearly didn't happen.

https://twitter.com/NFLonFOX/status/1170427861456416768

https://twitter.com/ReggieBush/status/1170458949809664000

The entire offseason has been a rollercoaster for both Brown and the team, to say the least. He suffered a bizarre case of frostbitten feet due to chryotherapy gone wrong, and even his helmet choice was a point of contention during training camp.

He was fined for missing practices, spoke out about the fines, and faced a potential suspension for a reported altercation with Raiders GM Mike Mayock.

https://twitter.com/VicTafur/status/1169255253553737733

And now... here we are.

https://twitter.com/FOXBet/status/1170445351645569027

https://twitter.com/RealSkipBayless/status/1170448944729444352