Two days after seemingly announcing his retirement from the NFL on Twitter, Antonio Brown demanded that the league give him clarity on its investigation into multiple off-the-field allegations lodged against the former Steelers and Patriots wide receiver so he can begin talks with other teams about playing again.
“I demand you provide me clarity on this situation immediately if you really care about my wellbeing,” he wrote in an Instagram post late Wednesday night. “My legal team continues to ask and you provide no answers. How is it that the league can just drag it’s feet on any investigation it chooses on players and we just have to sit there in limbo? Need an update so I can talk to these teams properly.”
Brown wrote his comments alongside a video of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell telling reporters before the Super Bowl that the league wants to get Brown “on the right track” and “in the zone where he can be successful in life.”
An NFL spokesman said Thursday morning the league would not be commenting on Brown’s demands.
Brown, 32, was a six-time Pro Bowler for the Steelers before he was traded to the Raiders ahead of the 2019 season. But Oakland cut him just before the regular season began after he got into a confrontation with General Manager Mike Mayock during practice. Signed by the Patriots as a free agent, Brown played in only one game in 2019 before he was released after Sports Illustrated reported that he had sent threatening text messages to a woman who had accused him of sexual assault. He has not signed with a team since then.
Two women have accused Brown of sexual assault, and he met with NFL officials in November to discuss those allegations. Brown also pleaded no contest to felony battery and burglary charges in Florida after he and an accomplice attacked a moving-truck driver at his Florida home in January, receiving two years probation.
In essence, Brown remains in limbo until the NFL finishes its investigation, as teams will be reluctant to sign him with the threat of a league suspension hanging over his head.
“I have complied with each and every ask of your investigations throughout the past 11 months,” he wrote on Instagram. “You have had access to all of my phones, you know what the deal is in each and every situation that the media has distorted. I have been seeing the therapist you asked me to, I have worked on all aspects of my life this past year and have become a better man because of it. The fact that you refuse to provide a deadline and the reason for the fact you won’t resolve your investigations is completely unacceptable.”
On Monday, Brown wrote on Twitter that “at this point the risk is greater than the reward” and that “life goes on.”
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