Antonio Brown Says NFL ‘Sent out a Hit on Him’ to the Media, Calls out His Agent

Wide receiver Antonio Brown has not been active on an NFL roster since the second week of the season, and he is expressing his unhappiness with that fact on Twitter. The former New England Patriots receiver voiced his frustrations during a prolonged Wednesday rant and did so by calling out the NFL, the NFL Player’s Union, and his own agent. He also alleged that that league had put out a hit on his career.

In a since-deleted tweet, Brown posted a photo of himself on the floor of a coliseum. He was wearing a Patriots jersey while a gladiator bearing the logos of ESPN and NFL Network stood above him holding a Sports Illustrated-branded sword. The photo also showed Brown’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, and NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith.

“The owners sent the hit to the media; media carried it out; as The agent and nflpa witness me go down no help no protection full take down on us every time!” Brown wrote.

Throughout his absence from the football field, Brown has been seeking roughly $40 million in money from both the Oakland Raiders and the New England Patriots. He filed the grievances on Oct. 7 and called for the NFLPA to aid him in pursuit of these funds. Although NFL insider Ian Rapoport later said that these appeals would not be heard until the spring.

Brown is now unhappy with the NFLPA, which he showed with this now-deleted photo, as well as a previous tweet in which he accused the association of stealing. It’s possible that this could be based on the money or the lack of a job, but Brown did not specifically detail why he included Smith in the gladiator photo.

What caught many off guard is that the receiver listed Rosenhaus as one of those responsible for simply standing by and watching his career fall victim to the alleged hit. When Brown’s apology to the NFL and its organizations came to light on Dec. 6, the prevailing belief on social media was that Rosenhaus had actually written the post in pursuit of getting his client another opportunity.

Rosenhaus is the man that has gone on TV multiple times over the past year to explain that the budding market for Brown is “robust” and that the receiver still wants to play. Even when Brown declared multiple times that he was done with the NFL, Rosenhaus still made a point to mention that his client wants to continue playing. Watching Brown specifically mention his agent in this deleted photo made many wonder what transpired between the two men.

Photo Credit: Michael Reaves/Getty