Patriots star receiver Antonio Brown took passes from Tom Brady for the first time before the press on Thursday, hitting the practice field for a second straight day following a bombshell rape allegation.
Brown — wearing a No. 17 jersey instead of the No. 1 he donned on Wednesday, and the No. 84 he wore with the Steelers — ran crisp fade routes and showed off his explosive, All-Pro leaping ability as he snatched Brady’s passes out of the air in the end zone.
The Steelers — and Raiders — cast-off also ran through ball-security drills, cradling the pigskin tight in the face of jabs from teammates, including fellow Pats wideout Julian Edelman.
Brown’s switch to the more receiver-appropriate No. 17 may have been in honor of his father, Eddie, who wore the number during his Hall of Fame Arena Football career with the Albany Firebirds.
Despite having now practiced two days in a row, coach Bill Belichick has remained noncommittal whether Brown will suit up to make his Patriots debut Sunday against the Dolphins.
Britney Taylor, Brown’s former personal trainer and Bible-study partner, filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday in Florida accusing Brown of three instances of sexual misconduct over the course of a year, culminating in an alleged May 2018 rape in Miami.
The stunning allegations were publicly levied just three days after Brown signed a one-year, $15 million pact with the Patriots.
NFL Network reporter Ian Rapoport has tweeted that it is his “understanding” that neither the Patriots nor the league was aware of the looming allegations when the deal was inked.
Brown, through both his lawyer and agent Drew Rosenhaus, has denied any wrongdoing while admitting a consensual relationship with the accuser.
Rosenhaus also referred to Taylor’s suit as a “money grab.”
Brown has not been criminally charged, and authorities in both Miami and Pittsburgh have said that they have not been asked to probe any of the alleged incidents.
