Antonio Brown’s abrupt exit from the Oakland Raiders has predictably led to plenty of conspiracy theories with many pointing to Brown orchestrating his way to the Patriots from the very beginning.
You can count Jerry Rice among those believers.
Rice, who spent four seasons with the Raiders, was seen catching up with Brown during this season of Hard Knocks. He also had time to speak with Brown once the trade from Pittsburgh to Oakland went down.
Now that Brown is a member of the Patriots, Rice couldn’t help but think that he had been fooled by a player wanting to be in New England all along.
Rice said in a Monday appearance on 95.7 The Game, via NBC Bay Area:
“We all got played. He contacted me, he told me he wanted to play ball here in the Bay Area. I bought into it because I can only take a man at his word, but I think this was already planned.”
Rice continued:
“I think when he asked to be released from the Steelers, he wanted to go to the Patriots. He wanted them to trade him to the Patriots. And there was no way that the Steelers would trade him to a rival. So he had to go a different route. And he decided to come through the Bay Area. And I feel sorry for the fans over in Oakland.
“He was a Denzel Washington and he won the Oscar. He won an Oscar, guys. I’m gonna be honest with you.”
If Rice is right, Brown really knew how to play the long game.
