Conspiracy? Pete Carroll looked into signing Antonio Brown, but never truly had a chance
Antonio Brown to the New England Patriots seemed like a done deal almost from the second the Oakland Raiders granted him his release on Saturday.
That didn’t stop Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll from trying to get in on the action.
“We were involved in that one, yeah,” Carroll said, via the Seattle Times. “We were ready if something was there.”
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Clearly, something wasn’t there.
Brown agreed to a one-year deal with a $9 million signing bonus with the Patriots just hours after he was released from the Raiders.
Based on that timeline and his history — and Brown’s insane antics during his time in Oakland — it’s not unreasonable to think that signing with the Patriots was Brown’s plan all along. Even NFL legend Jerry Rice thinks that’s the case, citing the Steelers’ refusal to engage in trade talks with the Patriots last year as yet another example.
“We all got played,” Rice said Monday.
Now, Carroll made it clear later that the Seahawks were simply looking into the situation like they do constantly in the league. He doesn’t want to miss out on anything.
And when a player like Brown becomes available, it would only make sense to do your due diligence.
“We just read on the situation. We knew exactly what was going on,” Carroll said, via the Tacoma News Tribune. “That’s what we needed to know. Why wouldn’t you, you know? He’s a great player. We wanted to see what was going on. Not everything is always as it seems. Check into it and see what is going on.
“You know, I have confidence in [Seahawks general manager John Schneider] and our guys and ourselves as coaches that we can figure those things out. And see what’s best. I don’t mind getting close to the edge with it and figuring it out.”
Who knows if anybody other than the Patriots truly had a shot at signing Brown.
While it will be tough to actually prove a conspiracy was in place, it didn’t take long for Carroll — and, presumably, front offices across the league — to figure out where Brown was going to end up on Saturday.
“He was headed to New England,” Carroll said, via the News Tribune. “He was goin’.”
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