Initially, Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians didn’t want to say anything more about receiver Antonio Brown than what Arians wanted to say. Arians has since said more, pushing the idea that he kicked Brown off the team after Brown refused repeatedly to re-enter Sunday’s game.
On Monday, Arians was asked about Brown’s reported belief that he couldn’t play due to his ankle injury.
“I don’t know that he was [injured],” Arians told reporters, via Greg Auman of TheAthletic.com. “It’s pretty obvious what happened. He left the field and that was it. . . . We had a conversation and he left the field.”
It’s obvious that Brown partially stripped out of his uniform and left the field. It’s not obvious what preceded it. If his ankle, which kept him from practicing on Thursday and Friday, was bothering him and if Arians didn’t want to hear it, that’s a different situation than if Arians ordered Brown to play and Brown refused for no reason.
Arians refused to get into the details of the conversation, other than to say that Brown didn’t say he was injured (according to Arians).
The Buccaneers presumably will release Brown at 4:00 p.m. ET on Monday. He’ll then pass through waivers. If he clears waivers, he’ll become a free agent.
