New England Patriots receiver Antonio Brown attended practice on Wednesday ahead of the team’s matchup against the Miami Dolphins in Week 2.
It’s Brown’s first practice with the team after signing with New England on Saturday. A civil suit accusing Brown of multiple instances of sexual assault was filed in Federal court Tuesday. While Brown has not been available to the media in New England, he has denied wrongdoing in a statement by his lawyer. Bill Belichick addressed the allegations during a press conference on Wednesday after releasing a statement about the situation on Tuesday.
“On Antonio’s situation, both Antonio and his representatives have made statements,” Belichick said. “I’m not going to be expanding on any of those. They are what they are. We’ve looked into the situation. We’re taking it very seriously all the way through the organization. I’m sure there are questions but I’m not going to be entering the discussion about that today.”
Brown was wearing No. 1 on his jersey. It’s a number he won’t be able to keep for game day, but his normal number, 84, is in the temporary ownership of tight end Ben Watson, who is on suspension. It stands to reason that because Brown cannot communicate with Watson about football matters during that suspension, they are not allowed to discuss the potential for Brown to use that jersey number.
At this point, Brown is eligible to play on Sunday He could go on the commissioner’s exempt list, which would exclude him from Patriots practices and games despite. For now, the NFL has not applied any punishment, but they are reportedly meeting about Brown on Wednesday. Belichick would not address whether he’s preparing to have Brown on Sunday, nor would the coach address whether he’s preparing for Brown to end up on the commissioner’s exempt list.
