Antonio Brown is no stranger to attention. Whether he is being applauded for another career season or condemned for faking his vaccination card, Brown is never out of the spotlight for long. Now, his most recent headlining act will cost him two million dollars and possibly his future in the NFL.
In 2009, Antonio Brown was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers with the 195th pick of the 2010 NFL Draft. Brown’s hall of fame career is summarized by two words: consistency and scandal. With one of the best five-year runs of any receiver in history (2014-2018), he holds the record for the most seasons with at least 1,200 receiving yards, 100 receptions, and eight touchdowns. Brown has solidified his name on the field, but in the last three years, off the field, he has destroyed it.
In December 2018, he was deactivated from the Steelers Week 17 game after reportedly throwing a ball at a teammate in practice. On March 10, 2019, Brown’s career with the Steelers came to an end after they traded him to the Las Vegas Raiders in exchange for 3rd and 5th round picks. There was also pre-season drama due to, of all things, a grievance about his helmet that ultimately resulted in his absence from Raiders’ training camp. Then on September 7, 2019, the Raiders released Brown after he posted a message on Instagram asking to be released from the team.
Two days later, he signed with the New England Patriots, and for the next six days, his name never left the news. Not only did Brown’s former trainer, Britney Taylor, accuse him of sexually assaulting her, but Sports Illustrated also reported on a second incident of sexual misconduct, so after only 11 days and one game, Brown was released by the Patriots. The following year, on January 22, 2020, Brown pleaded no contest to burglary, battery, and two misdemeanor charges for an incident with a moving truck company. He received no jail time, and a two-year probation. That summer, the NFL suspended Brown for eight games for multiple violations of the NFL’s personal conduct policy, including his incident in January and for sending threatening messages to a woman who accused him of sexual misconduct.
In October 2020, Brown signed a one-year deal with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He won a Super Bowl ring that same season, and then on May 25, 2021, he re-signed with the Bucs. In December, Brown was suspended three games for violating the NFL-NFPA COVID-19 protocols. He along with two other teammates provided the league with false vaccination cards. (All three have since been vaccinated.)
The drama following Brown for the last three years culminated on Sunday, January 2, 2022, when Antonio Brown took his equipment off on the sideline, including his pads, jersey, and shirt, and proceeded to run off the field during the Jets-Buccaneers game at MetLife Stadium. As Brown ran off the field, topless and throwing up the peace sign to Bucs fans, there was evident confusion not just in MetLife, but across the League. Why did Antonio Brown just quit the game and leave half-naked? Since Sunday, Antonio Brown and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have told two very different stories about what happened on the sidelines and before the game, specifically about Brown’s supposed ankle injury.
On Wednesday, January 5, 2022, Brown released a statement claiming he “relented to pressure directly from my coach to play injured,” and he was injected with, “what I now know was a powerful and sometimes dangerous painkiller that the NFLPA has warned against using.” Brown also claims that he “didn’t quit. [He] was cut.” He says that he not only informed Head Coach Bruce Arians about the injury, but asked for and was denied help on the sidelines. Antonio Brown accused the Bucs of creating an “ongoing cover-up.” Brown detailed the results of an MRI on his ankle which showed “broken bone fragments stuck in [his] ankle, the ligament torn from the bone, and cartilage loss, which are beyond painful.” Brown will undergo surgery.
Meanwhile, the Buccaneers are telling a different tale. According to the Bucs’ GM Jason Licht, Antonio Brown did not tell anyone on the medical staff about his ankle bothering him before the game or during it. He also said the team scheduled two appointments for Brown, but he failed to show up to either. The Bucs are standing firm in their story, even after Brown posted screenshots of his text messages discussing his injury with Arians.
There is no doubt Antonio Brown is a great wide receiver. He has a Super Bowl ring and was a First-Team All-Pro four years in a row, but we might never know what actually happened on the sideline of the Jets-Bucs’s game. However, Head Coach Bruce Arians has made one thing clear: “Antonio Brown is no longer a Buc.” He was released on January 6, 2022.
