Antonio Brown made headlines for all of the wrong reasons in Week 17.
Towards the end of the third quarter in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers‘ game versus the New York Jets, Brown walked out on the team — literally. He took off his jersey and pads, left them on the sideline and walked out of the game.
Following the incident, head coach Bruce Arians announced that Brown will no longer be a member of the Buccaneers.
“He is no longer a Buc,” Arians said after the Buccaneers’ 28-24 win over the Jets. “That’s the end of the story. Let’s talk about the guys that went out there and won the game.”
With Arians making the decision public, that means Brown won’t be able to finish the season in Tampa Bay. One of the bigger storylines of Brown’s decision to walk out is the amount of performance-based incentives that he’ll now miss out on as a result of his actions.
According to Spotrac, Brown was just a few receptions and receiving yards and one touchdown away from making $1 million in bonus money.
Here are the exact details:
“Antonio Brown needed: 8 more catches to unlock a $333,333 bonus. He also needed 55 receiving yards to unlock another $333,333 bonus. He also needed just 1 receiving TD to unlock another $333,333 bonus. This was a costly outburst,” says Spotrac.
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Brown Ends Bucs Stint With Own Actions
Brown had just made his long-awaited return to the Bucs’ lineup in Week 16, leading the club with 10 catches for 101 receiving yards in the team’s win over the Carolina Panthers. The veteran receiver had made headlines prior to his return as he was suspended for three games after misrepresenting his vaccination status to the NFL.
Many assumed after Brown’s dustup, Arians would make the decision to release the receiver. After all, the Bucs head coach did declare after signing Brown midway through the 2020 season that one mistake would cost him.
However, Arians did not release Brown despite his suspension. In fact, he boldly declared to reporters that he did not care what they thought of his decision to retain the oft-troubled receiver.
“I don’t give a s*** what they think. All I care about is this football team and what’s best for us,” said Arians on Dec. 20.
However, the camel that finally broke the straw’s back was Brown leaving the team himself — literally.
Tom Brady Defends Antonio Brown After Incident
While Brown has his reasons for abruptly leaving the team and Arians publicly declaring AB’s stint with the Bucs as over, Tom Brady took the high road when commenting on the situation.
Instead of blasting his teammate — the two played together for a short stint with the New England Patriots back in 2019 — the veteran quarterback defended his “friend” following the game.
“We all love him. We care about him deeply,” said Brady. “We wanna see him be his best, and unfortunately, he won’t be with our team … I think everyone should be very compassionate and empathetic towards some very difficult things that are happening.”
Many will be quick to judge Brown’s actions, but there is obviously more to it than we know.
The one thing that we do know is that Brown won’t be suiting up for the Bucs when they end their regular season versus the Panthers in Week 18.
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Here’s How Much Bonus Money Antonio Brown’s ‘Costly Outburst’ Lost Him