Drew Rosenhaus: Antonio Brown ‘wants to be a Patriot'

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The New England Patriots picked up a terrific talent on Saturday afternoon when they were able to agree to a one-year, $15 million deal with wide receiver Antonio Brown. The former Pittsburgh Steeler and Oakland Raider had been released by the latter club earlier in the day and elected to come to Foxborough to continue to add talent to the team's receiving corps.

Though Brown has had his share of issues over the course of the past six months, including butting heads with the leadership structure in Oakland, it seems that he is excited to join the Patriots, as his agent Drew Rosenhaus outlined in a recent interview.

"I'll just tell you that the Patriots are obviously a very solid, strong organization," Rosenhaus said on ESPN's SportsCenter. "They do things the Patriots Way. They expect everyone to be accountable. They don't make any exceptions. I've discussed this with Antonio. And he wants to be a Patriot. He's prepared to go there, fit in, work hard, be like every other player on the team, do what's asked of him, do his job and make it work. He's honored with the opportunity and he's looking forward to taking advantage of it."

And while Rosenhaus said that Brown did receive quite a bit of interest on the free agent market, New England was ultimately an easy choice.

"Antonio had a robust free-agent market and certainly had a lot of options," Rosenhaus said. "But it was hard to compete with New England and that amazing opportunity, that great franchise, and play with one of the all-time greats, Tom Brady, and Bill Belichick."

It's not a huge surprise that Brown, who led the league in touchdown catches last year with 15 and has also led the league in receiving yards twice during his career, saw interest on the open market. Despite his recent antics, he clearly has talent. And contenders are always looking to add extra pieces to put them over the top.

But as Rosenhaus said, getting a chance to compete on a team that has made three consecutive Super Bowls while playing with a player who Brown has called the greatest of all-time was simply too hard to pass up.

Brown's first chance to play with the Patriots won't come until Week 2 vs. the Miami Dolphins at the earliest. He'll be out for the Patriots' game against the Pittsburgh Steelers but after that, he'll have a chance to team up with Josh Gordon, Julian Edelman, and Demaryius Thomas to potentially form one of the NFL's best receiver groups.

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