BROWN’S BUC EXIT OFFICIAL, AND UGLY
Antonio Brown is officially finished as a Buccaneer, and he burned his bridge to Tom Brady on his way out the door.
The Bucs organization released the out-ofcontrol wide receiver on Thursday and shot down Brown’s claim that coach Bruce Arians tried to make him play hurt last Sunday against the Jets.
“He was cleared to play by our medical team prior to the start of the game and at no point during the game did he indicate to our medical personnel that he could not play,” the Bucs said in a statement.
Arians, who had stonewalled for days, finally told his side of the story: that Brown was throwing a tantrum because he wasn’t getting the ball.
“He was very upset at halftime about who was getting targeted,” Arians said. “(We) got that calmed down. The players took care of that. (Then it) started again on the sideline. We called for the personnel group he had played in the entire game. He refused to go in the game.
“That’s when I looked back and saw him basically wave off the coach,” Arians continued. “I then went back and approached him about what was going on.”
Arians alleged that the conversation went like this:
Brown: “I ain’t playing.”
Arians: “What’s goin on?”
Brown: “I ain’t gettin’ the ball.” Arians: “You’re done. Get the ‘F’ outta here.” And the coach pointed to the tunnel.
Brown, 33, then undressed as he danced off the field at MetLife Stadium in a bizarre, offthe-rails scene that he and his attorney have since tried to pin on the Bucs for making him play through an ankle injury.
Before Brown was officially released on Thursday, however, he might have done the most damage by sharing private text messages with Brady’s trainer, Alex Guerrero.
Brown claimed Guerrero had robbed him of money for services not rendered.
“@tombrady guy charging me 100k never doing the work on me! how u even work wit people like this! This what I was dealing wit,” Brown wrote.
But the text messages show that Guerrero was prepared to refund a portion of his money when Brown wanted to stop working together.
“Please let me know where you want me to send the balance,” Guerrero wrote.
Brady was Brown’s sponsor in Tampa Bay, his biggest advocate, the person who went to bat for Brown when no other organization in the league would touch the troubled star.
Not only did Brady welcome Brown into his family’s home last year and recruit him to the Bucs in 2020, the quarterback also stood up for Brown to get him re-signed in 2021, knowing Brown would need to hit certain statistical targets to achieve bonuses to make his contract palatable.
Brown was on his way to hitting all of those targets on Sunday before throwing his fit. By blasting Guerrero and Brady on his way out, Brown shouldn’t expect a call back.
“I think there’s a lot of personal feelings,” Brady said Thursday of Brown’s actions. “I don’t think this is really the week to discuss those.”
Brady and the Buccaneers brought all of this on themselves, of course, by welcoming and enabling Brown, a wild card with a history of alleged domestic violence, sexual assault allegations, unpaid debts and infamous incidents in his wake.
Brown already had served a three-game suspension this season for using a fake vaccination card. The NFL and Bucs only found out because a private chef was owed $10,000 by Brown and spilled the beans to the Tampa Bay Times.
Last week, Brown and his agent asked that the remaining $2 million in incentives on his contract for this season be guaranteed, according to Bucs GM Jason Licht, per ESPN. The team declined.
And the night before Brown’s half-naked exit from MetLife Stadium, The Daily Mail reported that Brown snuck Instagram model Ava Louise into his hotel room at the Westin in Jersey City and made a sex tape.
“The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have terminated the contract of Antonio Brown, effective immediately,” the team’s statement read. “While Antonio did receive treatment on his ankle and was listed on the injury report the week leading up to last Sunday’s game, he was cleared to play by our medical team prior to the start of the game and at no point during the game did he indicate to our medical personnel that he could not play.
“We have attempted, multiple times throughout this week, to schedule an evaluation by an outside orthopedic specialist, yet Antonio has not complied,” the statement concluded. “Maintaining the health and wellness of our players is of the utmost importance to our organization.”