Antonio Brown has been the talk of the NFL in the past couple of days, but it appears that his time with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers is officially coming to an end.
Tampa has finally decided that they are officially releasing Brown. This was expected as Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians said on Sunday that Brown was “no longer a Buc.” This comes after Brown releasing messages between himself and Arians, as well as messages between himself and Tom Brady’s trainer Alex Guerrero this morning in what seems to be Brown claiming that Arians knew about the severity of his ankle injury.
Antonio Brown has released screenshots of his messages with Bucs head coach Bruce Arians 👀 @brgridiron
(via @AB84) pic.twitter.com/LJDS7q1Atb
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) January 6, 2022
Antonio Brown now posting Dec. 24 texts with trainer Alex Guerrero, showing they had stopped working together. But Guerrero’s text back looks like what he should say there in response. Brown tagging Brady even. pic.twitter.com/8TOmP5j2tt
— Greg Auman (@gregauman) January 6, 2022
While the relationship between the Buccaneers coaching staff and Brown obviously seemed to be strained, it appears that Brown held no ill will towards his teammates on the Buccaneers, as he had this to say on his teammates in Tampa.
Don’t get it twisted. My brothers have been good to me. From Tom to practice squad, we were a top-level unit. They have been good to me and knew nothing about my talks with coach last week. The team mishandled this situation. They let me down and, more importantly, my teammates.
— AB (@AB84) January 6, 2022
The Buccaneers have released this statement regarding the release of the former all-pro wide receiver.
— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) January 6, 2022
Here are some reactions around the sports world regarding the news of Brown’s release.
I continue to be amazed at how many people are defending AB. Have y'all not been following his career? He tried to get the Bucs to guarantee his incentives and then got pissy when he wasn't being targeted enough. https://t.co/7dzfaYOxsu
— Joshua Buckley (@joshuabuckley) January 6, 2022
Yeah, you can see how hurt his ankle was by how he jumped around in the endzone and then ran off the field. In Randy Moss voice, "Come on man!!!" https://t.co/QgboKR79Q9
— Willie Oglesby (Recruiting Kingpin) (@og_triple_og) January 6, 2022
https://twitter.com/JohnnyO2892/status/1479112300359405569
It will remain to be seen whether or not any other team will want to take a shot on Brown going forward, but it surely will not be the last time that we hear from Brown in this truly bizarre string of events.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.