Antonio Brown Rumor Season Commences Yet Again

For about two blessed months, we were free of hearing about how Antonio Brown was supposedly connected to every other team in the league before nothing happened and he stayed unemployed. This blissful period is now ending. Brown's league-mandated suspension for violations of the personal conduct policy is ending after Week 8.

Adam Schefter started the fireworks early. He tweeted that the Seattle Seahawks are interested, and unnamed other teams are in the running.

It really was nice when these rumors did not exist, but all good things must come to an end. It was actually mildly surprising given the last we heard of Brown, he announced his retirement for the second time and previewed a rap album he was planning to release.

Despite the serious issues in Brown's past, teams will give almost anybody a second, third, or fourth chance if the payoff is high enough. In the case of Brown, it's easy to see how teams can talk themselves into it being high enough.

Sure, his actions over the last few years and the several lawsuits for varying offenses he's still yet to resolve suggest he is a horrifyingly awful person. He has not done anything other than post to his social media to suggest he is not the same person who sexually assaulted his trainer. He did one ESPN interview in February to begin the cycle of public repentance required for individuals who do terrible things and want to get back into football, but that passed without much notice.

Still, he's a good football player. So the risk/reward balance is even for professional football organizations, it appears.

Just a PSA for everyone to prepare themselves to see his name pop up on every team's social media pages and message boards for the rest of the season. If all is right with the world, those rumors will end the same as the ones this summer did: with Brown remaining unsigned. But nothing is right with this world, so I fully expect to see him in uniform come Week 9.