Antonio Brown may be remembered by most as a Pittsburgh Steeler, but many forget that he was actually a New England Patriot at one point. It was back in 2019. Immediately after Brown’s release from the Oakland Raiders, he signed with the Patriots. The wideout would only play one game, however, due to off-field issues. In a recent interview with Jason Whitlock, Brown opened up on what he perceives was the reason why his tenure in New England ended immediately.

“AB played the Patriots game in 2019, one game,” Brown said, referring to himself from a third person point of view. “Who led the team? I just got there (during) Week 2.”

“Yeah you did, I remember,” Whitlock replied. “You had a good game.”

“AB led the team right?” Brown continued. “Then the next week, I figured everything out. The NFL don’t want me to win with Tom Brady, especially not on the Patriots. You know why? I’m a Steeler.”

It can be noted that Brown was facing sexual assault allegations at that time, which was the reported reason why he was let go from New England.

Antonio Brown’s wild theory

For more context on his theory, Brown spent nine years with the Steelers before moving on to short stints with the Raiders and the Patriots, respectively.

Going back to the interview, Brown then claimed that the NFL didn’t want him to leave the Steelers, hinting that his release from the Patriots was part of a conspiracy against him since the league was supposedly against his departure from Pittsburgh. He also indicated that the league is not in favor of players “doing their own thing”.

“That’s what the NFL do when you’re doing your own thing,” Brown said, about his New England release. “I was able to get myself out the deal with the Steelers…so I was able to make smart decisions for myself. The NFL is not a business where players can actually make moves for themselves. I was fortunate that I was able to put myself in some good positions in regards of my career.”

“Hold on for a second,” Whitlock then asked. “You think the NFL did not want you to leave Pittsburgh, and that you created a situation where you can get out and then you got a better deal from Oakland and money from New England?”

“Yes I did,” Brown responded. See the full conversation below.

“The NFL didn’t want me to win with Tom Brady, especially not on the Patriots. Know why? I’m a Steeler.” – @AB84 pic.twitter.com/v1A1JoAjOo

— Jason Whitlock (@WhitlockJason) May 7, 2024

So yup, that would be Antonio Brown’s perspective on the entire situation back then. Still, the wideout did get to play with Tom Brady as a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, even winning a Super Bowl with the quarterback to conclude the 202-21 season. There seemed to be no conspiracy going on at that time, as his career ended due to his shirtless departure from an ongoing game in 2021.

Why the Patriots were drawn to quarterback Joe Milton in the NFL Draft

New England selected the Tennessee passer in the sixth round.

The New England Patriots entered the 2024 NFL Draft with a major need at quarterback, and they wasted no time to address it. With the third overall pick in the first round, North Carolina’s Drake Maye was brought aboard in hopes of stabilizing the most important position on the field.

But even with Maye added to the mix and holes across the roster, the Patriots were not done at quarterback. They selected another prospect on Day 3 of the draft: Tennessee’s Joe Milton was picked 193rd overall.

Why did New England go after two quarterbacks, though? According to director of scouting Eliot Wolf, who had final say in the draft room, Milton’s talent was too enticing to pass up at this point in the draft.

“I had the opportunity to watch Joe play live, the last game of the year against Vanderbilt,” Wolf said during a recent appearance on the Adam Schefter Podcast.

“I got there really early and watched him warm up, and just watching him throw the football is unbelievable. He’s 6-5, 245 pounds. He’s got a rocket for an arm. He’s athletic. He played in [Josh] Heupel’s offense there, which is not an NFL offense, but we feel like there’s some things that we can work with and develop. It was just one of those picks where there was too much talent in him to pass that up.”

The game against Vanderbilt was arguably the best performances of Milton’s college career. Completing 22 of 32 pass attempts, he finished with 383 passing yards and four touchdowns. He also scored another two TDs on his five rushing attempts.

That outing alone does not tell the whole story of Milton’s six-year college career, which saw him struggle with consistency in his 21 total starts between Michigan and Tennessee. It did, however, show the talent and high ceiling he does possess.

The Patriots were obviously drawn to that late in the draft, but they also felt confident in their ability to develop both Milton and Drake Maye.

“Having worked with Ben McAdoo and Alex Van Pelt before, and they learned from Mike McCarthy — I think Mike McCarthy is a great quarterback developer — they have the quarterback school stuff that they did with McCarthy,” Wolf exaplined. “T.C. McCartney is our quarterback coach, they will sort of implement that stuff for these guys and we’ll see what they can do with them.

“But having worked with those guys before made it easier and organizationally more confident to be able to take a raw guy like Joe.”