Antonio Brown has resolved a civil dispute with former coach Britney Taylor, who in a 2019 lawsuit had accused the broad receiver of sexually assaulting her.
A settlement was reached, however per the settlement, no phrases might be disclosed, a supply instructed ESPN’s Jenna Laine.
“Antonio and Britney have been mates for over a decade. A number of years in the past they nearly turned enterprise companions. Just lately, they had been concerned in aggressive litigation. Having mirrored on their relationship, each really feel that the time has come to maneuver on. Antonio is grateful for Britney’s glorious coaching help. They’re happy that Antonio is doing so nicely with the Bucs and has a hoop. Their dispute is resolved they usually want one another nice continued success,” Taylor’s lawyer, David Haas, mentioned in an announcement.
Brown is at the moment a free agent after enjoying for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers final season. Common supervisor Jason Licht mentioned Wednesday that the Buccaneers will proceed to debate a potential return for Brown.
“We have had discussions all through the offseason and you may inform we have put an emphasis on bringing again our gamers from final 12 months that contributed to our success, and he’d be no completely different, so we’ll proceed to have talks and see the place it goes,” Licht mentioned.
Licht famous that the Buccaneers signed Brown final 12 months when his dispute with Taylor was ongoing so the decision “wasn’t essentially the deciding issue of whether or not or not we’re gonna proceed to speak.”
In her lawsuit, Taylor said that Brown sexually assaulted her on three events in 2017 and 2018. Earlier than that swimsuit’s submitting, Brown and Taylor had entered into settlement talks, with sources telling ESPN’s Jeff Darlington in 2019 that Brown declined to sign a $2 million-plus agreement.
Brown countersued Taylor in 2019 for defamation and interference along with his NFL contracts and endorsements.
Brown and Taylor knew one another at Central Michigan earlier than Brown entered the NFL draft in 2010, and the paperwork state the 2 had cursory communication from then till 2017.
In line with Taylor’s lawsuit, she and Brown met in a Bible research group on the college and have become mates, then fell out of contact for a number of years earlier than reconnecting in June 2017, with Brown hiring Taylor, who was a gymnast at Central Michigan, to help in his bodily coaching.
The New England Patriots launched Brown in 2019 after the lawsuit was filed. Brown had joined New England after being launched by the Raiders earlier that 12 months however performed only one sport for the Patriots.
The NFL investigated the allegations and suspended Brown for the primary eight video games of the 2020 season for a number of violations of the NFL’s private conduct coverage.
He signed with the Buccaneers final season simply earlier than their Week 9 sport towards the New Orleans Saints. Brown, 32, led the Bucs in receiving targets over the ultimate 5 weeks of the common season and didn’t file a single drop in 2020. He additionally caught a landing go from Tom Brady within the Buccaneers’ Tremendous Bowl LV victory over the Kansas City Chiefs.
Brown spent the primary 9 seasons of his profession with the Pittsburgh Steelers and was a seven-time Professional Bowl choice and four-time first-team All-Professional.
ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler contributed to this report.