Antonio Brown: “I Think I Owe The Whole NFL An Apology”

Antonio Brown sat down with ESPN’s Josina Anderson to discuss what took place over the past year. 

In the interview, Brown offered an apology to the entire NFL for his behavior. 

“I think I owe the whole NFL an apology and my past behavior,” Brown said. “I think I could have done a lot of things better.”

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell recently said their No. 1 concern is Brown’s well-being and not his potential return to the league.

“I was pleased to hear that after 140 days that there was some positivity about me because as of late I’ve just been the cancer of the NFL,” Brown said regarding Goodell’s comments. “The problem child, the guy who gets in trouble, the kind of guy who has the bad narrative about him.”

When asked whether he needs mental health help, Brown told Anderson: “We all need mental help.”

Brown does not think he has CTE, referencing the helmet-to-helmet hit he took from Vontaze Burfict a few years ago. 

“Nah,” Brown said, “if I had CTE I wouldn’t be able to have this beautiful gym, I wouldn’t be able to be creative. I wouldn’t be able to communicate. He didn’t hit me that hard. You know, I got up and walked off the field. We won the game. I was all right. You play the game long enough, everyone get hit hard.”

As for the allegations of sexual misconduct from multiple women, Brown denied the accusations.

“I can’t speak on it, the court will handle that stuff,” Brown said.

“I feel like I never really got in a conflict with no woman,” Brown continued. “I just feel like I’m a target so, anybody can come against me and say anything [that] I have to face. There’s no support, there’s no egos, there’s no rules in it, anyone can come after me for anything. No proof or whatever. ‘He said, she’s saying.’

“The media will run with it, so even if I’m not guilty, I already guilty because they already wrote it, put it on TV and put that in people minds. So for me to have to sit here and hear those the allegations of me is just unfair to me every time.”

The NFL has yet to hand down punishment as part of their ongoing investigation in Brown dating back to last year. The overall expectation is that he will be suspended once the NFL has concluded their review of several incidents involving Brown. 

Brown, 31, is a former sixth-round pick of the Steelers back in 2010. He was in the third year of his five-year, $72.71 million contract when the Steelers traded him to the Raiders back in March. 

The Raiders later signed Brown to a new contract worth $50.125 million and includes $30.125 million guaranteed. However, Oakland made the decision to release Brown before the start of the season and he later signed a one-year deal worth up to $15 million with the Patriots.

Brown lasted just 11 days in New England.  

In 2019, Brown appeared in one game for the Patriots and caught four passes for 56 yards receiving and one touchdown.