Bucs terminate Brown’s contract
The Buccaneers officially severed ties with Antonio Brown, terminating the contract of the mercurial wide receiver while contradicting his claim that he was fired in the middle of a game for not playing through an ankle injury.
Coach Bruce Arians said Thursday that Brown was upset that he was not being targeted enough in the first half of last Sunday’s game against the Jets and that the situation evolved to a boiling point in the third quarter.
“At no point and time during that game did he ever ask for the trainer or doctor about his ankle. That’s the normal protocol. . . . I was never notified of it,” Arians said, discussing the circumstances of Brown’s bizarre exit in detail for the first time publicly.
“He was very upset at halftime about who was getting targeted. We got that calmed down. Players took care of that. It started again on the sideline. We called the personnel group that he had played in the entire game. He refused to go in the game.”
Arians said when he became aware of the situation, he went to Brown to ask “What’s going on?” Arians said Brown responded “I ain’t playing . . . I ain’t getting the ball.”
“That’s when I said you’re done. Get out of here. That’s the end of it. We are working on Carolina,” Arians said, referring to this week’s opponent. “That’s the end of the story. Hopefully it ends today.”
The Buccaneers announced Brown’s contract was terminated one day after he broke his silence on the matter, alleging in a statement released by his attorney that Arians cut him on the spot because Brown declined to re-enter the game because he was too injured to continue playing.
“You can’t force a player to play. They have that choice. It’s their body,” Arians said. “He decided to play.”
Brown alleged a cover-up.
“I didn’t quit. I was cut. I didn’t walk away from my brothers. I was thrown out,” his statement said.
COVID news
Steelers wide receiver Diontae Johnson and center Kendrick Green, Cowboys offensive tackle Tyron Smith and cornerback Anthony Brown, Bengals defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi and Colts safety Andrew Sendejo were put on the COVID-19 list.
USFL hires four head coaches
The USFL announced the hiring of its first four head coaches — Todd Haley (Tampa Bay Bandits), Kevin Sumlin (Houston Gamblers), Mike Riley (New Jersey Generals) and Bart Andrus (Philadelphia Stars). The eight-team league will run from April 16 through mid-June.
Portis sentenced to prison for fraud
Ex-Washington and Broncos running back Clinton Portis was sentenced to six months in federal prison and six months of home detention for his part in defrauding a health care benefit program for retired NFL veterans.