Free-agent receiver Antonio Brown recently worked out with Washington quarterback Dwayne Haskins. Which caused one of the reporters participating in Wednesday’s videoconference with Washington coach Ron Rivera to ask whether the team could add Brown to the roster.
“For us to bring a veteran guy in a couple of positions, we have to see what we have in terms of our young guys first,” Rivera replied. “I made the comment about our left tackle position. We have a group of young guys that we have to find out whether or not they have the ability to be football players. If you bring in a veteran right now, you are going to stunt the growth of someone young. . . .
“I know who Antonio Brown is. I know he is a great player and an impact guy. He is also a veteran guy and we have some guys that we have to find out about. That is the approach. We want to see what we have. If we were able to go through OTAs and minicamp, we would’ve been able to judge that and say, ‘Hey, we need to get a guy at this position or we need a guy at that position.’ These guys aren’t really coming along how we want them to, let’s pull the trigger and bring a guy into our organization. That is the hard part about not being able to see our guys. As I said, I went through it when I was first in Carolina, not knowing what we had and coming out of the lockout. We had to go sign players. We signed them without me knowing who they were. That really does make a difference. You want to know who your guys are and who they want to be. It will help you going forward because these are the guys that you put your energy towards as you progress as a football team.”
So it’s not a yes or a no but a maybe, based on what happens with the young players. But the other practical reality is that Brown remains subject to discipline for three different investigations under the Personal Conduct Policy, which ultimately could make Brown unavailable for part or maybe even all of the 2020 season.