AB Watch II: Quarantonio Brown

Captaincoop

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I'm glad the Pats cut him, but also glad they took the shot initially.

There was a ~5% chance that he was going to keep his head on straight and play somewhere, and the cost was minimal. Why not grab that 5% chance of adding a top playmaker to our offense instead of letting KC or whoever do it?
 

BigSoxFan

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I'm glad the Pats cut him, but also glad they took the shot initially.

There was a ~5% chance that he was going to keep his head on straight and play somewhere, and the cost was minimal. Why not grab that 5% chance of adding a top playmaker to our offense instead of letting KC or whoever do it?
Agreed. He is the best WR in the league. Was worth a shot. Truthfully, I am not surprised it didn’t work out but I am surprised it lasted only 2 weeks. Obviously, had we known all the accusations, he doesn’t get signed so those changed things quickly.
 

Time to Mo Vaughn

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A guy I play hoops with on Friday’s speculated that this erratic behavior goes back to a mega-hit on Brown by Vontaze Burfict a couple years ago, causing CTE to be driving all of this.
You don't get CTE from a single head injury. If you did the rates of CTE would be much higher in the general population.
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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I'm glad the Pats cut him, but also glad they took the shot initially.

There was a ~5% chance that he was going to keep his head on straight and play somewhere, and the cost was minimal. Why not grab that 5% chance of adding a top playmaker to our offense instead of letting KC or whoever do it?
I feel kind of foolish that I really thought he would work out in New England and had it as a much higher percentage. I thought he was just a diva who was savvy at getting what he wanted by using social media. He had an agent that is too established to casually burn bridges. I really thought his problem set was the kind of stuff that the Patriots have shown an ability to control. I thought he would shut up and play.

Boy was I off. Turns out he is an asshole narcissist with impulse control who at a minimum hates women and may very well be a rapist. I also think he is not very smart. Like maybe a very very low IQ. I guess the Patriots were fooled too. Fortunately if the reports are right at least they had the foresight to prepare for it in the contract.
 

jsinger121

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If anything let’s be thankful that BB never gave up a first round pick for him. It was only cash.
 

Saints Rest

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You don't get CTE from a single head injury. If you did the rates of CTE would be much higher in the general population.
I know next to nothing about it, but is it possible / does it make sense that for any football player, who almost by definition has had a number of head injuries, minor or major, that a massive hit could prove the tipping point?
 

DennyDoyle'sBoil

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That 2020 cap space becomes interesting. While the team cannot fit Trent Williams full salary under the cap now, some reporters have said they could always convert part of his $9M+ salary into guarantee and spread that out over this year and next. .
I dont subscribe to the pay site Miguel writes for but if I’m understanding him there’s nothing the Patriots can do to get 2019 cap space back but they will get a credit in 2020 for the 2019 AB cap charge if they prevail.

Assuming that’s the case they would have to find a way to borrow the money this year and then just let it offset next year.

Right now they are very short on cap room and if I’m reading Miguel correctly they must fill AB’s roster spot which puts another minimum salary on the cap. I think they are at like $1 million. They are going to need to do a restructure or an extension soon.
 

Jimbodandy

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I know next to nothing about it, but is it possible / does it make sense that for any football player, who almost by definition has had a number of head injuries, minor or major, that a massive hit could prove the tipping point?
Not an expert, but I don't think that it's crazy talk to suggest that one hit could have caused a problem for AB. If you took psych 101, you heard about cases of head injuries causing personality changes, loss of some specific types of brain functions, etc. There is no evidence of that here to date though.

Such an event wouldn't be consistent with CTE though, which is by definition chronic.
 

lambeau

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It's deflating to come off the high of contemplating him, Jules, and Flash working with TB, but it feels better realizing it was only a one year rental--and really important for three games, two with KC and hopefully a SB.
BTW, word seems to be he's untouchable this year, and won't play until next year.
 

RG33

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I know next to nothing about it, but is it possible / does it make sense that for any football player, who almost by definition has had a number of head injuries, minor or major, that a massive hit could prove the tipping point?
AB has a long history of being a primadonna jerk, has long had whispers in Pittsburgh a la Big Ben regarding women, and has acted like a total jackass pretty publicly for the last 2 years. I don’t understand why his behavior is trying to be linked to CTE just because he is a football player. It is WAY more likely that the guy is just an asshole who treats women very poorly.
 

axx

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It's deflating to come off the high of contemplating him, Jules, and Flash working with TB, but it feels better realizing it was only a one year rental--and really important for three games, two with KC and hopefully a SB.
BTW, word seems to be he's untouchable this year, and won't play until next year.
Brown was always going to be a one year rental.

AB has a long history of being a primadonna jerk, has long had whispers in Pittsburgh a la Big Ben regarding women, and has acted like a total jackass pretty publicly for the last 2 years. I don’t understand why his behavior is trying to be linked to CTE just because he is a football player. It is WAY more likely that the guy is just an asshole who treats women very poorly.
He does have a history of rather strange behavior that has nothing to do with women.
 

DJnVa

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The team was up against the cap and instead of holding on to the last chip for the possibility of a Williams or Gronk down the road, they gambled it on bad odds.
Trent Williams? Yeah, that wasn't going to happen.

And when AB signed there was talk of Gronk coming back---so, apparently there was room at the time. That hasn't changed.
 

wade boggs chicken dinner

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A guy I play hoops with on Friday’s speculated that this erratic behavior goes back to a mega-hit on Brown by Vontaze Burfict a couple years ago, causing CTE to be driving all of this.
Local radio guy (no one worth knowing) speculates that AB doesn't really want to play football anymore thus PIT shennanigans; foot icing; Raider stuff; and maybe now the text message.

Maybe too speculative but it's interesting to think about, at least to me.
 

BigJimEd

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AB has a long history of being a primadonna jerk, has long had whispers in Pittsburgh a la Big Ben regarding women, and has acted like a total jackass pretty publicly for the last 2 years. I don’t understand why his behavior is trying to be linked to CTE just because he is a football player. It is WAY more likely that the guy is just an asshole who treats women very poorly.
But how can you not take the word of some guy that played hoops with some other guys?
 

Al Zarilla

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Not an expert, but I don't think that it's crazy talk to suggest that one hit could have caused a problem for AB. If you took psych 101, you heard about cases of head injuries causing personality changes, loss of some specific types of brain functions, etc. There is no evidence of that here to date though.

Such an event wouldn't be consistent with CTE though, which is by definition chronic.
The symptoms of CTE include memory loss, confusion, impaired judgment, impulse control problems, aggression, depression, anxiety, suicidality, parkinsonism, and, eventually, progressive dementia.

AB doesn’t seem to have that except for, well, the 3rd, 4th and 5th symptoms. Those are not the ones commonly associated with CTE though. Rather, he could be bipolar, but of the type where one is always “high”. His high seems to be a nasty, destructive one though. Amateur psychoanalysis here, he gone, so mox nix, or something like that as a German friend used to say.
 

E5 Yaz

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A guy I play hoops with on Friday’s speculated that this erratic behavior goes back to a mega-hit on Brown by Vontaze Burfict a couple years ago, causing CTE to be driving all of this.
That guy wouldn't have listened to the Broussard-Parker radio interview with Jay Glazer on Saturday, would he? Glazer shot down their similar theory for the reasons others have cited
 

lexrageorge

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I dont subscribe to the pay site Miguel writes for but if I’m understanding him there’s nothing the Patriots can do to get 2019 cap space back but they will get a credit in 2020 for the 2019 AB cap charge if they prevail.

Assuming that’s the case they would have to find a way to borrow the money this year and then just let it offset next year.

Right now they are very short on cap room and if I’m reading Miguel correctly they must fill AB’s roster spot which puts another minimum salary on the cap. I think they are at like $1 million. They are going to need to do a restructure or an extension soon.
The Pats do get credit for 15/16'ths of Brown's $1M base salary that he would have earned, as that base was not guaranteed. They are also entirely off the hook for the $5M in NLTBE incentives, although they were never accounted for in the first place.

NFL minimum salary is $495,000 for the types of players that will occupy the 53rd roster spot. Based on his Twitter feed, I believe Miguel has already accounted for the release of AB, the signing of Scooby Wright and the promotion of Jakob Johnson from the practice squad to come up with slightly more than $1.7M in space. He is also accounting for room for some grievances that naturally occur (usually around injury designations).

They can live with that amount of cap room; it would allow them to add up to 3 minimum salaried players during the season to account for players going on IR or the release of vested vets. They often do some extensions and restructures through October, so there's that.

The Pats are projected to have quite a bit of cap space in 2020. There are a number of UFA's as well, some of whom are key players. But borrowing some from next season should be exactly what they are doing, especially given that 2020 is the last season of the current CBA, and who knows what will change after that. And they probably have a pretty good idea on their chances of prevailing in the event of a Brown grievance, certainly a better idea than anyone here does.

Trent Williams is probably a pipe dream, but that was likely the case even before the AB signing, as the Redskins seem firm on holding out for a first round pick. And they may like their new LT more than we realize; which would not be atypical for this team.
 

lars10

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The team no longer has DT when the receiving corp still has some big question marks.

The team was up against the cap and instead of holding on to the last chip for the possibility of a Williams or Gronk down the road, they gambled it on bad odds.

I'm not saying this board should put BB in the pillory, but why defend him from the media that are going to do that? They have every right to.
Honest question.. why the reverence for DT at this point? He’s no longer the receiver he was with Denver and his stats have fallen off a cliff.. how many teams do you think were or would be lining up for him and how much better do you think he is than the rookies looking to replace him?
 

BigSoxFan

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Honest question.. why the reverence for DT at this point? He’s no longer the receiver he was with Denver and his stats have fallen off a cliff.. how many teams do you think were or would be lining up for him and how much better do you think he is than the rookies looking to replace him?
Yeah, he’d be the #4 WR right now, at best. And when Harry comes back, likely would be #5. I’m glad that we actually got some value for him.
 

E5 Yaz

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Yeah, he’d be the #4 WR right now, at best. And when Harry comes back, likely would be #5. I’m glad that we actually got some value for him.
You don't understand ... he had a good performance in a preseason game against the scrubs not good enough to start for a lousy Giants defense
 

Eddie Jurak

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The symptoms of CTE include memory loss, confusion, impaired judgment, impulse control problems, aggression, depression, anxiety, suicidality, parkinsonism, and, eventually, progressive dementia.

AB doesn’t seem to have that except for, well, the 3rd, 4th and 5th symptoms. Those are not the ones commonly associated with CTE though. Rather, he could be bipolar, but of the type where one is always “high”. His high seems to be a nasty, destructive one though. Amateur psychoanalysis here, he gone, so mox nix, or something like that as a German friend used to say.
Aaron Hernandez brain was riddled with CTE, one of the most severe cases on record. Before his implosion (say, towards the end of the 2012 season), which of these symptoms would you have attributed to him?

There's a lot not known about CTE. I think any time you have a football player acting in ways like this, CTE is a legitimate possibility.
 

Saints Rest

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The Pats do get credit for 15/16'ths of Brown's $1M base salary that he would have earned, as that base was not guaranteed. They are also entirely off the hook for the $5M in NLTBE incentives, although they were never accounted for in the first place.

NFL minimum salary is $495,000 for the types of players that will occupy the 53rd roster spot. Based on his Twitter feed, I believe Miguel has already accounted for the release of AB, the signing of Scooby Wright and the promotion of Jakob Johnson from the practice squad to come up with slightly more than $1.7M in space. He is also accounting for room for some grievances that naturally occur (usually around injury designations).

They can live with that amount of cap room; it would allow them to add up to 3 minimum salaried players during the season to account for players going on IR or the release of vested vets. They often do some extensions and restructures through October, so there's that.

The Pats are projected to have quite a bit of cap space in 2020. There are a number of UFA's as well, some of whom are key players. But borrowing some from next season should be exactly what they are doing, especially given that 2020 is the last season of the current CBA, and who knows what will change after that. And they probably have a pretty good idea on their chances of prevailing in the event of a Brown grievance, certainly a better idea than anyone here does.

Trent Williams is probably a pipe dream, but that was likely the case even before the AB signing, as the Redskins seem firm on holding out for a first round pick. And they may like their new LT more than we realize; which would not be atypical for this team.
Miguel actually said that he doesn’t think is the roughly two million would be enough to cover the usual bumps that hit during the season for signings and playing time bonuses.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

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You don't understand ... he had a good performance in a preseason game against the scrubs not good enough to start for a lousy Giants defense
Wait until Thomas is healthy and Darnold comes back from his kissing disease. He will light it up and show all the doubters here that he is dominant. BB will finally be exposed for the poor talent evaluator that his critics know he is.

Or, Thomas will show what we are actually seeing which is a once very good athlete who has lost skills due to age and injury.
 

Jed Zeppelin

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I'm glad the Pats cut him, but also glad they took the shot initially.

There was a ~5% chance that he was going to keep his head on straight and play somewhere, and the cost was minimal. Why not grab that 5% chance of adding a top playmaker to our offense instead of letting KC or whoever do it?
Agreed. He is the best WR in the league. Was worth a shot. Truthfully, I am not surprised it didn’t work out but I am surprised it lasted only 2 weeks. Obviously, had we known all the accusations, he doesn’t get signed so those changed things quickly.
Yup, generally speaking, the average player you could expect to get in-season is much worse than Antonio Brown. This season is a bit of an outlier with available or theoretically available players, but usually we’re trying to figure out the next Van Noy bargain types.
 

Bergs

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A guy I play hoops with on Friday’s speculated that this erratic behavior goes back to a mega-hit on Brown by Vontaze Burfict a couple years ago, causing CTE to be driving all of this.
I have also heard this kind of talk.
 

Ed Hillel

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Klemko posting DMs from Pats fans now. Very professional. As a certified Belichick and Pats hater, I’m sure he’s enjoying this.
 

Vinho Tinto

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Klemko posting DMs from Pats fans now. Very professional. As a certified Belichick and Pats hater, I’m sure he’s enjoying this.
Thanks for making me aware that Robert Klemko is the true heel in this fiasco. Hopefully the “Pats fans” who are sending messages to harass and threaten him will see he’s enjoying it and just stop.
 

Mystic Merlin

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Klemko posting DMs from Pats fans now. Very professional. As a certified Belichick and Pats hater, I’m sure he’s enjoying this.
I wonder if he and the likes of Michael Silver (speaking of trainwreck Twitter feeds from purported NFL reporters) have formalized their little Illuminati circle.
 

Ed Hillel

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Thanks for making me aware that Robert Klemko is the true heel in this fiasco. Hopefully the “Pats fans” who are sending messages to harass and threaten him will see he’s enjoying it and just stop.
Oh please, these guys get harassed all the time from NFL fans, it comes with the territory. Hello, it’s Twitter. Pretty much every NFL fan on Twitter gets harassed by other NFL fans. Part of being professional within that scope is ignoring them and creating a narrative about “X team’s fans are the worst!” Stick with the stories. We get it, there are assholes and fake keyboard warriors on Twitter. You’ll find them in every fanbase...except maybe the Spurs.

Klemko, btw, is the same guy who beat the shit out of a cab driver and drove away drunk with the cab. Not super relevant, but it’s an inspiring tale.

I wonder if he and the likes of Michael Silver (speaking of trainwreck Twitter feeds from purported NFL reporters) have formalized their little Illuminati circle.
I saw him on NFLN after the Brown signing and my one takeaway was that his voice appears to be different. He had that a cross super distinctive deep paternalistic tone and Harry Carey, but he seemed to have more of a normal voice. Maybe he was sick.
 
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Vinho Tinto

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Oh please, these guys get harassed all the time from NFL fans, it comes with the territory. Hello, it’s Twitter. Pretty much every NFL fan on Twitter gets harassed by other NFL fans. Part of being professional within that scope is ignoring them and creating a narrative about “X team’s fans are the worst!” Stick with the stories. We get it, there are assholes and fake keyboard warriors on Twitter. You’ll find them in every fanbase...except maybe the Spurs
We have different definitions of professional behavior from reporters.
 

Ed Hillel

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In other news, they hate their owner:
The decision to release Brown was led by owner Robert Kraft, sources say, sparked by the text messages that came to light Friday and by the thought that the end was not near. Several players privately voiced their displeasure that the move was made, as Brown had made a positive impression on teammates in a short time. He did things in practice no one else could do.
https://amp.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000001057052/article/nfl-meets-with-antonio-browns-second-accuser?networkId=4595&site=.news&zone=story&zoneUrl=url=story&zoneKeys=s1=story&env&pageKeyValues=team=ne;conf=afc;dvsn=ace&sr=amp
 

Ed Hillel

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Rosenhaus must have informed him Pats are withholding the signing bonus lol.
 

RG33

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He’s not wrong
He is wrong. There is a large difference between sexual assault/rape/threatening women and getting a handjob at a massage parlor. I’m not discounting Kraft’s shitty behavior, but these two things have nothing in common and are very different.
 

Van Everyman

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He is wrong. There is a large difference between sexual assault/rape/threatening women and getting a handjob at a massage parlor. I’m not discounting Kraft’s shitty behavior, but these two things have nothing in common and are very different.
I was being literal. Of course they’re completely different.