Report: Antonio Brown may receive $9M from Patriots

Antonio Brown will get his signing bonus money from the New England Patriots, according to a Yahoo! Sports report published Thursday night.

Multiple sources from the NFL who are, “each familiar with Brown’s now-voided Patriots deal and all having extensive experience with the overlap between NFL contracts and the league’s collective-bargaining agreement,” told Yahoo’s Charles Robinson that Pats owner Robert Kraft will inevitably have to pay the $9 million signing bonus out, despite the wide receiver being released after playing in just one game with the team.

Brown is the subject of NFL investigations following allegations of sexual misconduct, sexual assault, and rape. The league is also investigating text messages sent during Week 3 of this season by a person identified as Brown by an attorney for one of the accusers. Messages were described as “threatening,” and “intimidating,” by the attorney and were filed to the NFL as behavior that violates the league’s personal conduct policy.

The team does not want to pay Brown the bonus, but the group of NFL sources emphasized to Robinson that, “the Patriots cut Brown before he triggered any signing bonus void as described in the Collective Bargaining Agreement.” The wide receiver is expected to file a grievance to the league over the absence of the payment, which will likely push the payment until late in 2020 according to the article.