Antonio Brown has agreed a contract with the New England Patriots, hours after being discharged by the Oakland Raiders, according to reports.
Brown along with the Patriots agreed to a one-year deal worth around $15m (#12m) that contains a $9m (#7.2m) signing bonus, according to reports.
The 31-year-old took to social media to all-but-confirm the bargain, posting an image of himself using a Patriots jersey and hat.
The news is based on a whirlwind day where Oakland suddenly released Brown that a bit more than 48 hours before the Raiders’ season opener against the Denver Broncos.
Patriots start their season against Brown side Pittsburgh Steelers, whenever they will boost their Super Bowl championship banner.
Brown played 130 games to get Steelers in fourteen days in Heinz Field, to Raiders before his move.
The move capped a tumultuous week at Oakland and arrived only hours after the wide receiver posted a message into Instagram on Saturday morning which ended with”Release me @raiders”.
Brown became a free agent at 4:01pm Eastern Time on Saturday and has been free to sign with any team. He’s qualified to play in Week 2.
“We tried every way possible to make it operate,” Raiders coach Jon Gruden told reporters.
“All I will say is it is disappointing. I am really proud of our clients, our coaches, our owner, our front office. We did everything we could to make this work. I am sorry it did not. I apologise, but I will tell you I’m very proud of what we did to attempt. I need Antonio nothing but the best.”
Talking on NFL Network before, Brown’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, said he’ll get to work on finding a brand new group.
“It’s been well-documented that it’s been a rocky road from the beginning,” Rosenhaus said.
“Regrettably, not all connections between teams and players work out. Everyone had the best intentions going in but it didn’t pan out”
The release of brown came less than 24 hours after Gruden said he anticipated the wide receiver to play in Monday’s season opener.
He was fined $215,000 (#175,000) on Friday for a confrontation with Raiders general manager Mike Mayock earlier in this week.
The behaviour fine voided the roughly $30m (#24m) of guarantees in his arrangement, although the Raiders also allegedly would not be bound to provide him some termination pay.
The Raiders acquired Brown in a trade in March, sending fifth-round and third-round draft selections. Then they signed into a three-year, $50m (#40m) restructured contract extension. According to reports, the Raiders have to cover Brown any cash.
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