FOXBOROUGH — The Patriots should not be in the business of acquiring malcontents and headaches from around the league.
They're too good, have accomplished too much and have too much of a good thing going with this group (three straight Super Bowl appearances, three titles in five years) to go down that road. Bill Belichick has proven over the years he's a threat to win it all with just about any roster that his GM alter ego serves up to him. The 2011 Patriots told us that much.
The Patriots didn't need Josh Gordon last season, and don't need his unreliability this year. Albert Haynesworth was a disaster. Aqib Talib didn't help them win a Super Bowl. Neither did Randy Moss.
So it would make sense for them to pass on Antonio Brown if he's released by the Raiders after threatening the general manager and going AWOL. The Patriots don't need that type to win a Super Bowl. They haven't won a Super Bowl recently with that type.
But Brown is different. The Patriots should absolutely go after him if he's available, although I doubt it would come to fruition.
Here's why it should happen, and why it probably won't (but I wouldn't rule it out).
WHY IT SHOULD HAPPEN
1. He's that good.
If you think Moss was great here, Brown is even better. While they'd be just about the same age when they arrived (Moss was 30, Brown 31), Brown runs a complete route tree and is a threat to score whenever he touches the ball at any point on the field. Moss was pretty much just a vertical and slant threat by the time he came to New England. He was excellent, but Brown is by far the best receiver in the game and is uncoverable on any route he runs. Even with the Patriots trying to stop him in six career games against them, Brown still averaged six catches and 75 yards in each of them, and caught four touchdowns. Belichick knows how good Brown is, which is why they were vying for his services this offseason before the Steelers predictably did not deal him to the rival Patriots and instead shipped him to Oakland.
2. The Patriots have Belichick and Brady
With all due respect to Super Bowl-winning coaches Mike Tomlin and Jon Gruden, they can't hold a candle when it comes to Belichick garnering the immediate respect of players, no matter how big of a diva pain-in-the-ass they are (and Brown is a waist size 52 pain in the rear). Those six Lombardis make even the biggest diva snap to attention and fall in line.
When in doubt, there's Brady. Brown could pull his circus act and know Ben Roethlisberger and Derek Carr wouldn't do or say anything. One look from Brady would snap Brown into reality.
3. Brown loves football and is a tremendous practice player.
If you watched Hard Knocks this season, you learned two things about Brown, if you didn't already know them: he's a dim child prone to worst tantrums outside of Chuck E. Cheese, and the guy absolutely works at his craft. Even while he was dealing with his frostbitten feet and the helmet debacle, Brown never stopped working at the facility and away from it. And that's what people in Pittsburgh will tell you: when he's on the field at games or practice and away from his entourage, Brown is all in when it comes to football. The Patriots look for that first and foremost in players. That's why Moss worked as well as he did here, until he didn't with his contract tantrum.
4. Brown will know he needs the Patriots
If the Raiders release him before even playing for the team, that will be two teams in a matter of months that just turned their backs on Brown because he was that much trouble. The Steelers even took a $20-plus million cap hit just to get rid of him. Brown's reputation and value around the league would be at an all-time low. He'd be toxic to most, and he'd take a serious hit in the wallet.
Enter the Patriots. There's no team that can do more to burnish a player's reputation. Not only will he be put in a position to succeed on the field, no team is better at hiding whatever ills a player has inside the building than the Patriots. In an effort to keep Brown happy, there would be all sorts of leaks about how great he's been around the team. When teammates are asked about Brown, they'll do nothing but say how great a teammate he is (even if that's not the truth). That's what the Patriots do. If he's cut loose by the Raiders, Brown will need that if he ever again wants to see a big payday (which he does; he loves his money more than anything — it was the root of all his Steelers issues).
If Brown comes to New England on a prove-it deal, produces and his off-field antics are hidden by Fort Foxborough, that's his only chance to land another huge deal next offseason — whether that's in New England (unlikely) or elsewhere.
WHY IT'S UNLIKELY TO HAPPEN
1. The Patriots have virtually no cap space.
Miguel has the Patriots with just under $6 million in cap space — probably the minimum they need to finish out the season with IR and incentives. Field Yates, with likely some additional practice squad money factored in, has the Patriots with less than $5 million, which ranks 25th in the league. The Colts, Titans, Cowboys, Bears and Chiefs have more cap space and would possibly consider offering more money than the Patriots could on a one-year deal.
https://twitter.com/FieldYates/status/1169601232882810880
The Patriots can't trade for Brown and his $14.625 million base salary for this season. They would have to cut or trade a bunch of veterans for that to happen. Other teams likely to consider the move, like Chiefs and Andy Reid's House for Wayward Children, have more and could find a way to trade for him.
The only way the Patriots would have a chance to land Brown is if he's released and willing to play for basically peanuts this season with the hope of a future big payday. That's unlikely, but not out of the realm of possibility. Brown loves his money too much.
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