Brown, 2 others get 3-game bans
NEW YORK — Antonio Brown and two other NFL players have been suspended immediately for three games by the league for violating COVID-19 protocols.
The Tampa Bay wide receiver and teammate Mike Edwards were suspended Thursday. Free agent John Franklin III, if signed by a team, also is ineligible to play in the next three games.
All three players have accepted the discipline and waived their right of appeal. The suspensions are effective immediately.
Brown, a 33-year-old receiver, who has 29 catches for 418 yards and four touchdowns this season, has missed the past five games with an ankle injury. He also sat out the team’s Week 3 loss to the Los Angeles Rams after testing positive for COVID-19.
The Bucs (8-3) are 5-0 when Brown plays this season and 3-3 without him.
Edwards, meanwhile, is a backup safety who’s started two games and been a key contributor on a defense that’s been riddled by injuries. The thirdyear pro leads the club with three interceptions, two of which he’s returned for touchdowns.
The suspensions come two weeks after a Los Angeles chef told the Tampa Bay Times that Brown obtained a fake COVID-19 vaccination card shortly before the start of training camp in July. The newspaper reported that Steven Ruiz provided a screenshot of a text message exchange in which Brown’s girlfriend asked the player’s former live-in chef if he could obtain Johnson & Johnson vaccination cards. When the personal chef replied he could try, the girlfriend responded “Ab said he would give you $500.”
Without specifically addressing Brown’s situation, the Bucs said two weeks ago that the team had received and reviewed completed vaccination cards from all players and “no irregularities were observed.”
Browns executive nabs national role
Callie Brownson, the Cleveland Browns’ chief of staff, and one of a handful of current female assistant coaches in the NFL, will coach the U.S. Women’s Tackle National Team this summer at the world championships in Finland.
It’s a dream job for the 32-year-old Brownson, who won two gold medals while playing on the U.S. team.
Brownson is in her second season with the Browns. Coach Kevin Stefanski hired her shortly after he got the job in Cleveland, and he credited her with helping him navigate through a tricky first season because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The U.S. team will compete at the International Federation of American Football world championship in Vantaa, Finland, from July 27-Aug. 8. The team will have 45 players and seven assistants, and Brownson said it’s “a priority” to hire women for some of those jobs.
The Americans will compete against seven teams trying to dethrone them as champions.
Pair of D-linemen back for Vikings
The Minnesota Vikings activated defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson from the COVID-19 reserve list on Thursday.
Tomlinson was back at practice after sitting out the previous 10 days. He missed the game at San Francisco last week, the first absence of his fiveyear NFL career.
The Vikings also got defensive tackle Michael Pierce back at practice this week, designating him for return from injured reserve. He has missed the past seven games with an elbow injury.