Antonio Brown had a workout with Saints, but business is not boomin’
Wide Receiver Antonio Brown of the New England Patriots warms up prior to the game against the Miami Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium on September 15, 2019 in Miami, Florida. (Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
By Ty Anderson, 985TheSportsHub.com
Potential business was boomin’ for Antonio Brown on Friday, as the free agent wideout went through a workout with the New Orleans Saints, according to multiple reports (and confirmed by Brown’s since-deleted Instagram story).
While Brown was quick to say that he was “back to business,” everybody else involved seemingly rushed to call the workout ‘due diligence’ on the part of the Saints (they also brought in former Patriot Maurice Harris). Saints head coach Sean Payton said as much during his media availability when asked about AB’s workout. Payton wasn’t even sure if Brown could play if the Saints did indeed sign him, which sort of says everything you need to know about their seriousness in terms of actually signing him. Kinda seems like an important thing to know, really.
And as you’d expect once word of Brown’s first workout since getting cut from the Patriots over three months ago broke, it didn’t take long for any talk of a potential Brown boost to an already-loaded Saints offense to get put to bed.
The NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport was the first to report that the 31-year-old Brown could and would be placed on the Commissioner’s Exempt list if the investigation into the sexual allegations against him were not complete. Last we knew, that investigation — and that entire situation for that matter — was still unresolved. That would make signing Brown right now a complete waste of time for any team (unless they brought Brown in on a multi-year deal), and with Week 17 and the playoffs on deck, it seems highly unlikely that any contender would welcome that distraction into their room.
There’s also the fact that Payton outright admitted that the team did not have any ‘immediate’ plans to sign Brown, who appeared in just one game for the Patriots this season, but that the Saints were instead just making sure they had a list of possible signings should the team lose a wideout on their quest for a Super Bowl title. And Brown, at least based on Rapoport’s reporting, does not sound like a realistic option for Payton and Co. should the Saints actually need that.
At least we still have his Twitter.
