Patriots set up legal battle with Antonio Brown after refusing to pay his signing bonus

The New England Patriots have set up a legal battle with Antonio Brown by refusing to pay the jettisoned wide receiver the $5 million he was due on Monday, according to the contract he signed with the team on September 9.

Pro Football Talk was the first to report the news on Tuesday.

Brown has since been released by the Patriots amid allegations of rape and sexual assault.

ESPN previously reported that Brown was planning to file a grievance with the NFL Players’ Association in anticipation of the Patriots’ decision.

The 31-year-old NFL star initially agreed to a one-year, $15 million deal with the Patriots on September 7 just hours after he was released in Oakland, where he quarreled with Raiders general manager Mike Mayock over a series of fines.

Brown’s latest deal included a $9 million signing bonus, $5 million of which was owed to him on Monday.

Britney Taylor, 28, (left) is Antonio Brown’s former personal trainer, who has accused him of rape and sexual assault in a federal lawsuit 

Patriots owner Robert Kraft did not pay Antonio Brown’s $5 million signing bonus installment

Darren Heitner, Brown’s attorney, declined to comment when contacted by the Daily Mail. A Patriots spokesperson did not immediately respond to the Daily Mail.

Last week, Brown was sued in federal court by his former trainer, Britney Taylor, who claims he sexually assaulted her twice in 2017 and forcibly raped her in 2018.

Whether or not the Patriots were aware of the imminent allegations when signing Brown remains a mystery.

Brown’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, told ESPN that he and his client knew about the possibility of the lawsuit for some time, but Rosenhaus has steadfastly refused to say if the Patriots were aware of the imminent allegations, which emerged in the days after he signed in New England.

Antonio Brown’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus (left), told ESPN that he and his client knew about the possibility of the lawsuit for some time, but Rosenhaus has steadfastly refused to say if the Patriots were aware of the imminent allegations, which emerged in the days after he signed in New England 

League sources previously told the NFL Network that Patriots owner Robert Kraft was unaware of the pending accusation at the time of the deal, and had he known, he never would have signed Brown.

Since his release, Brown announced his retirement from football on Sunday, declared his intention to take online classes at his former college, Central Michigan University, and ridiculed Patriots owner Robert Kraft on social media for going unpunished after being charged with solicitation of prostitution.

‘Kraft got caught in the parlor AB speculations fired different strokes different folks clearly,’ Brown wrote in a since-deleted tweet that included a picture of Taylor.

ESPN previously reported that Brown is unlikely to get paid by Kraft, who is still upset with the troubled wide receiver about the tweet.

‘Kraft [is] never writing that check, no matter what the ruling is now,’ a league source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter after Brown targeted Kraft in the since-deleted tweet.

According to PFT, the Patriots’ effort to stiff Brown may not succeed.

He reportedly did not commit a ‘forfeitable breach’ under terms of the NFL’s collective-bargaining agreement with the Players’ Association.