The saga Antonio Brown Raiders is over. The future of the patriots has just begun.



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There was a popular joke that floated around Saturday morning that Antonio Brown, fresh out of his release and one of the most bizarre regimes in the history of the NFL, would sign a low-risk deal with the Patriots of New England. The lesson we learned is that Bill Belichick never jokes.

Brown agreed to meet with the Patriots on Saturday afternoon, marking the foreseeable end of the league's most unpredictable saga. You can not tell the story of Antonio Brown in 2019 without mentioning hot air balloons, a cryotherapy treatment that went wrong, an obscure helmet ruler, Mr. Big Chest's incoherent nickname, The masked singer, a YouTube video featuring a recording of his head coach and a blonde mustache. Now you will not be able to do it without mentioning something else: Brown is playing alongside the biggest coaching and quarterback tandem in football history, in huge matches, vying for a Super Bowl.

Brown's case is $ 15 millionand although it resembles the end of a long and strange journey, it signals the beginning of it. No matter how it goes, the next chapter is not normal. The first scenario is that Brown destroys the defenses, the offensive of the Pats seems unstoppable and New England dances again through the AFC. That would mean that in the last nine months, Brown has worked to the maximum: an angle similar to Andy Kaufman, designed to get him out of Pittsburgh, Oakland and New England. $ 30 million to help sell it. The second scenario is that Brown continues to act as he did with the Raiders, does not produce and ends up being quietly removed from the list. The third scenario is a combination of one and two: it acts as in Oakland while simultaneously dominating the defenses. It is difficult to say which result is most likely.

The signature probably solves the problems of both parties. The Patriots needed offensive firepower after Rob Gronkowski retired from the off-season. Now, the full-strength New England offensive will feature Brown lining up on the same field as Julian Edelman and Josh Gordon. I often joke, in a Jeff Goldblum style, that life finds its way when it comes to making the Super Bowl by the Patriots. A month ago, it seemed like they did not have enough offensive weapons and that an aging Brady could finally have trouble finding open guys. That they may have to rely more on the power play. Well, they reversed this story in a few weeks. Gordon has been reinstated from suspension and Brown is a patriot. Life finds its way.

Brown is one of the most hard-working players in the sport. I saw him stay in the field an hour after training to work on the Jugs machine, sometimes draped by a reserve back to simulate contested shots. You know who else does things like that? Tom Brady, to whom Brandon LaFell once told me to make extremely high passes during warm-ups before the afternoon games, would get his receivers into the sunshine. Brady and Brown have the chance to be an iconic duo on the pitch so Brown can be the player he has been in the last five years and not the guy he's been in the last two years of this year.

I talk a lot about the Patriots who innovate, and they do it. They change from one year to another and even from one game to another. But there is something that they never change: they identify undervalued assets, collect them, and then earn with them. This decision presents clear parallels with the 2007 announcement of the organization by Randy Moss, another member of the Oakland Group. New England finds many of these types of actors – promising but not very effective in a given infrastructure – and takes them. Some train them; Take Moss, Corey Dillon or Kyle Van Noy. Some do not do it; Chad Johnson and Albert Haynesworth immediately come to mind. But the Pats do two things well: they do not engage much for these players (Brown's contract is only valid for one year), and they have given them the means to succeed by asking them to focus on that. they do better and trim. What's interesting about Brown is that if you ask him to do only what he's good for, it would mean asking him to do all.

This Pats movement is however slightly different from the others. Part of that is that Brown played at an elite level last season. This is not the case for most low risk Patriots acquisitions. Moss had mainly mailed in two seasons with the Raiders and had just finished a 553-yard campaign when he left for New England. Brown, on the other hand, has accumulated at least 1,200 yards in each of the last six years, even though he has not played a regular season game in any of the last three games. Brown is also, as a player, the model against which most CEOs rate recipients. Last summer, I spoke with Kansas City General Manager Brett Veach about his philosophy of building chefs around Mahomes. Veach said he was looking for players who were playing like Brown because they would provide the best targets for a young quarterback. In the field, Brown is the plan. Off the field is a different story.

The Patriot Way does not really exist. I detailed it in a story earlier this week. What exists is a very intelligent team that puts everyone in a position to succeed and keeps those who can not take advantage. Brown now occupies a remarkable position: he moves from Derek Carr to Tom Brady. If it's up to the Patriots, who are more comfortable making mistakes than any other franchise in professional sports, they will not hesitate to pass to something else. If he does not miss it, the Patriots will probably win the Super Bowl.

This is an example of the "extreme safety of work" factor discussed in this story, which Belichick shares with other coaches and general managers. Belichick has the luxury of knowing that he can play the game long and avoid mistakes. There are probably 25 NFL coaches who have looked at Brown and thought: it could cost me my job. Only a privileged few have a lease long enough to try their luck. Hilarious, one of these guys is the nine-year-old Raiders employee Jon Gruden.

Antonio Brown is a patriot. Bill Belichick is his trainer and Tom Brady is his quarterback. One of the most remarkable sagas of league history is over and one of the most intriguing teams in league history has been born. That's, I guess, the ultimate bit.

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