Antonio

Brown

It sure appears that Brown is content to have him quitting on the Buccaneers in the middle of a game while throwing various bits of his on-field fit into the stands as the final moment of his NFL career. He’s also thrown some public pressure at the Steelers on social media for a one-day retirement contract. If this is it for Brown, the four-time first-team All Pro will finish his career inside the top 25 in career receiving yards. He’d appear to be right on the borderline to be a Hall of Famer, but the media have not traditionally been the most welcoming bunch to cases like this, and the wideout backlog is already stacked.

With Tom Brady and the Buccaneers unlikely to bring Brown back, it’s not clear what team would be willing to take a chance on him. Brown’s insistence on a team commitment before seeing to his health only further reduces the chances that we will be on an NFL roster in 2022. It’s likely that Brown’s New York walk-off was the final moment of his NFL career.

In the special, his attorney Sean Bursyn claims that: “The offer was Antonio would basically sit on the sidelines, go on some list — and commit himself to some form of intensive mental health treatment. And we were specifically told, in writing, by the general manager (Jason Licht) twice, “Don’t spin this any other way.” Brown has spent the last few days posting photoshops of him waving goodbye to the Bucs in the playoffs and putting himself in a Ravens jersey, so he is clearly Tweeting through it. We won’t speculate on his mental health, but it’s hard to see any other team putting their credibility on the line for Brown after how many emotional flameouts he’s had over the last three years, regardless of his talent.

He added that the date could change based on logistics and insurance. The surgery proves that Brown was indeed playing through a serious ankle injury before he chose to stop playing through said injury in the middle of a game. Brown claims that Bruce Arians was forcing him to play on the injury and that is what led to him storming off the field. Arians has said that he knew nothing about the injury. More will come to light in this saga with plenty of lawyers getting involved along the way.

Brown, per Rapoport, thought the suggestion was “ridiculous” and “just wanted to be released.” Headed into the team’s Week 17 game against the Jets, Brown and his agent asked the Bucs to guarantee about $1 million in incentives the wideout was chasing in the season’s final stretch -- a request the team denied. Brown was reportedly unhappy with the number of targets he had seen in the first half of the Bucs’ game against the Jets before storming off the sideline shirtless. This story -- and Brown’s versions of it -- is sure to evolve in the coming days.

Brown and his agent requested that the remaining $2 million in incentives in his contract for this year be guaranteed, per Bucs GM Jason Licht, but the team declined after it made two doctors’ appointments in New York — where Brown was staying after he quit in the third quarter — so they could place AB on injured reserve and pay him for the remainder of the year only to find out he missed both appointments. The 33-year-old veteran, who has likely played his last down of professional football forever, will inevitably go unclaimed on waivers and enter the offseason as a free agent with the 21st most catches in NFL history.

Brown had been dealing with an ankle injury for weeks leading up to last Sunday’s drama. “Because of my commitment to the game, I relented to pressure directly from my coach to play injured,” Brown said. “Despite the pain, I suited up. The staff injected me with what I now know was a powerful and sometimes dangerous painkiller that the NFLPA has warned against using, and I gave it my all for the team.” Brown says he played “until it was clear that I could not use my ankle to safely perform my playing responsibilities,” and “the pain was extreme.” Brown says he took a seat on the bench, and that Arians approach him “vey upset” and exclaimed, “What’s wrong with you? What’s wrong with you?” Brown claims he told Arians that his ankle was bothering him. AB claims Arians continued to press Brown to play. Brown said he couldn’t. Brown claims that Arians shouted, “You’re done!” and made a throat-slash gesture. “I didn’t quit,” Brown said. “I was cut. I didn’t walk away from my brothers. I was thrown out.” If all this is true, AB likely has a legitimate case. Brown is having season-ending surgery to repair what he said is cartilage loss, a torn ligament, and broken bone fragments.

Stroud reports that “the belief is Antonio [Brown] probably should’ve never been on the field to begin with Sunday” after the wide receiver went to a non-team-affiliated surgeon and adds that an official release from Brown’s camp will be coming soon. The Buccaneers are supposedly in active talks with the league about how they should handle the whole situation, presumably so that they can get him off the roster without having to pay him his salary. More is sure to come in this saga.

Despite Brown remaining on the roster, his time in Tampa Bay has obviously come to an end. He stormed off the field in the middle of the Bucs’ Week 17 game versus the Jets. Bruce Arians then said he was done with the team before both sides engaged in a back-and-forth on whether or not Brown’s exit was related to his ankle injury. ESPN’s Adam Schefter noted that the Bucs are in discussions with the league on how to move forward with the situation. Brown could be suspended instead of waived, preventing another team from scooping him up for the playoffs. It’s unclear if any team would take a shot on him but the Bucs would rather not find out. His suspension could also allow Tampa Bay to recoup some of his salary. Expect things to get more complicated with many lawyers involved as the situation progresses.

Brown claims Bucs coaches and staffers tried to force him to re-enter the game despite a nagging ankle injury he had reportedly tweaked last week in practice. Arians denied any discussion about Brown’s ankle issues in the minutes before Brown removed his jersey and walked off the field, likely ending his NFL career. Bucs beat writer Rick Stroud said Monday that Brown’s story “sounds like a pure set up for a grievance by Brown with the Bucs to get his money.” This could devolve into legal proceedings in the coming weeks.