The New England Patriots moved on from Antonio Brown pretty swiftly after he allegedly sent intimidating text messages to a woman who accused him of sexual misconduct, but it does not seem like Tom Brady was in favor of the move.
In his weekly appearance on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show” Monday morning, Brady spoke about how important it is for him to establish strong relationships with his teammates. He seemed to dance around the topic of Brown’s release, but he said “we live in a culture where we want to cast judgment so quickly on people” and “disparage people so quickly.”
Brady’s comments helped fuel speculation that he disagreed with the Patriots’ decision to cut Brown. He was asked more directly if he was in favor of the move during his interview with Jim Gray of Westwood One Sports on Monday night, and he would only say that it is not his job to make personnel decisions.
On @westwood1sports, Tom Brady was asked about rumors he and Bill Belichick were not in favor of the move to release Antonio Brown, while Robert Kraft was. pic.twitter.com/MCns7p72MJ
— Ryan Hannable (@RyanHannable) September 24, 2019
From a football perspective, you can certainly understand why Brady would have preferred to keep Brown on the team. The seven-time Pro Bowler is still in his prime and is one of the best wide receivers in football, but the Patriots were naive if they thought the negative headlines would stop coming after they signed him. They were apparently willing to hear Brown out with the sexual assault lawsuit that was filed against him, but owner Robert Kraft was said to be infuriated by the text messages Brown sent to the woman who most recently accused him of sexual misconduct.
Brady seemed excited that the Patriots signed Brown to begin with, though he isn’t happy that his reaction somehow leaked out to the media. Whatever the case, he’s used to players coming and going in New England. Don’t expect him to dwell on one who was only a teammate for 11 days.
