The resolution of a civil sexual assault and rape lawsuit against free-agent receiver Antonio Brown doesn’t automatically resolve his lingering issues with the NFL.
Asked what Brown settlement of the lawsuit brought in September 2019 by Britney Taylor means for the still-pending Personal Conduct Policy investigation, a league spokesperson told PFT, “The matter remains under review.”
The league investigated the situation but imposed no discipline when otherwise suspending Brown eight games last year for other misconduct, including a no-contest plea to felony charges arising from an altercation with the driver of a moving truck. As a practical matter, however, the settlement means that Taylor won’t provide any further information to the league. The fact that there will be no deposition testimony or trial testimony also means that whatever the league already has learned won’t be supplemented -- unless the league chooses to grill Brown again (assuming he’s already been questioned).
As we explained it at the time, the league quite possibly left the investigation open in order to account for the possibility that Brown would testify in a way that may him look culpable and/or eventually lose at trial. If the league had closed the case before a jury decided the case against Brown, the league would have looked bad.
Now that the case is over, the Personal Conduct Policy investigation can eventually end. In time, it quite possibly will.