The Antonio Brown Saga Reveals NFL’s Disciplinary Flaws
Feature - September 25, 2019
Throughout the first weeks of the 2019-2020 NFL season, wide receiver Antonio Brown has been the league’s biggest spectacle and a major talking point for the media, but for all the wrong reasons.
Since being traded from the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2018, Brown has created multiple distractions and issues within the Oakland Raiders organization and has been the subject of numerous sexual assault accusations.
Punches were nearly thrown at Raiders general manager Mike Mayock, vile comments and other issues regarding former teammates, coaches, an ex-trainer and various accusers were posted on social media, and threats were made to similar targets through text messages which were leaked.
All of these instances escalated this past week as Brown, who joined the New England Patriots for a brief one-game stint, was accused of another sexual assault he apparently committed in 2017 and responded with a vicious verbal attack on the accuser. The attack included group text messages in which he harasses her, saying she started a story just for cash and tells some acquaintances to “look up her background history to see how broke this girl is.”
In a season where the league has already handed out suspensions to top players for known but lesser offenses, allowing Antonio Brown to join teams is a bad look for the NFL and how they proceed with disciplinary measures.