Star receiver Antonio Brown and safety Mike Edwards are back with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as the team opted not to release either player after their three-game suspensions for falsifying vaccination documents to the NFL.
After the Bucs’ Week 15 loss to the New Orleans Saints, head coach Bruce Arians was asked about the team’s decision to retain Brown. Arians noted it was “in the best interest of our football team” to keep both players.
“No, it’s in the best interest of our football team and both those guys have served their time and we welcome them back,” Arians explained during his December 19 postgame media session.
Less than 24 hours later, Arians was asked for his response to some of the backlash the Buccaneers may receive given his previous emphasis on having a zero-tolerance policy with Brown.
“I could give a s*** what they think,” Arians told reporters. “Only thing I care about is this football team and what’s best for us.”
After both players were suspended, Arians left the door open for the team to release Brown and Edwards. Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht officially revealed the team’s decision during a radio interview, but both players had been making social media posts from inside the team’s facility.
“Alright, obviously we have two guys suspended. The league did their due diligence and we move on,” Arians explained during his December 3 press conference. “I will not address those guys for the next three weeks. They’ll just be working out, and then we’ll address their future at that time. Other than that, there’s really nothing to say.”
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Arians’ on Brown in 2020: ‘He Screws up One Time, He’s Gone’
Arians’ previous comments about having a zero-tolerance policy with Brown have been revisited given the team’s decision to keep the playmaker on the roster. After Tampa Bay opted to sign Brown last season, Arians told NBC Sports’ Peter King that if “he screws up one time, he’s gone.”
“Injuries [why the team signed Brown],” Arians said on October 26, 2020. “I mean, we got two Pro Bowl receivers [Mike Evans, Chris Godwin]. We went to Chicago with none of them, really. They were hurt. And here’s a guy that’s a Pro Bowl type player . . . We’re on the hook for nothing in this deal. He screws up one time, he’s gone. I don’t think he will because he wants to play.”
Brown did make it through his first contract with the Bucs, and the team signed the star wideout to a second deal, a one-year, $3.1 million contract, last offseason. The recent decision shows Brown has a little more leeway with the team in year two than the Bucs originally indicated.
A.B. Is ‘Ready to Go’ vs. Panthers
Prior to the suspension, Brown had been sidelined with an ankle injury, but the receiver is “ready to go” against the Panthers in Week 16, per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport. The NFL insider reported the Buccaneers wanted to “see how they responded during the time away” referencing the team’s decision not to release either player.
“A source explained that Brown and Edwards have been attending meetings and working out in the facility, all the activities they are allowed to do under the suspension,” Rapoport detailed on December 19. “The team wanted to see how they responded during the time away, and it appears it was more than enough.
“As for the ankle injury, a source said Brown’s rehab has gone well for an injury that’s kept him out since mid-October. He’s ready to go.”
King was among those critical of the Buccaneers’ decision not to release Brown.
“It is, of course, a case of talented people in life getting the edge over the less talented,” King wrote on December 20. “…Now that Brown has gotten away with this, he might say he’s learned his lesson. But it’s naïve to think he really has. How many lessons has Antonio Brown been taught in his professional life, only to revert back to anti-team behavior?”
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Bruce Arians Sends Message on Antonio Brown: ‘I Could Give a S***’