NOT LONG AFTER the New England Patriots released Antonio Brown, the All-Pro receiver walked into the office of his South Florida home. He had invited his dad, Eddie, over to his house that fall day, and usually those invitations mean there is something serious to discuss.
The room is Brown's sanctuary. It overlooks the pool and has multiple televisions and a computer. But all that was background noise on that fall day.
Eddie says that Brown seemed to be realizing the truth about his precarious situation -- that he had created enough wreckage around him to ruin an ideal situation in Foxborough and that he was in danger of never playing again in the NFL as sexual misconduct allegations and other legal woes piled up around him.