The very same day that Antonio Brown was seen on social media calling out Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady now includes his official release from the team.
Once the NFL transaction report was released Thursday afternoon, said move was made official.
This shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise given the drama we’ve seen unfold between Brown and the defending champs since Sunday’s blow up against the New York Jets at the Meadowlands.
Brown was seen leaving the field in a fit of rage after getting into it with Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians, the latter of whom announced he was no longer a member of the organization after Tampa Bay’s comeback win.
Since then, things have gone downhill. That includes Antonio Brown making some pretty eye-opening claims against both Arians and the Buccaneers. At one point during a press release Wednesday evening, Antonio Brown claimed that Tampa Bay was pushing a dangerous painkiller on him with the wide receiver himself saying Arians gave a throat slashing gesture while saying “you’re done.”
“I played until it was clear that I could not use my ankle to safely perform my playing responsibilities. On top of that, the pain was extreme,” Brown said through his attorney. “I took a seat on the sideline and my coach came up to me, very upset, and shouted ‘what’s wrong with you? what’s wrong with you?’ I told him ‘it’s my ankle.’ But he knew that. It was well-documented and we had discussed it. He then ordered me to get on the field. I said, ‘coach, I can’t.’ He didn’t call for medical attention. Instead, he shouted at me, ‘you’re done’ while he ran his finger across his throat.”
We’re just at the tip of the iceberg with the Antonio Brown drama
The aforementioned statement included Brown announcing that he will undergo ankle surgery and plans to return next season. That’s one of the minor backdrops to this.
The larger issue is Brown’s claims against the Buccaneers. It has been a point of contention throughout the past few days around the NFL world. If proven true, Tampa Bay is going to be in a world of hurt. If said claims are proven wrong, Brown himself likely will never see the field again.
We’re going to get a lot more information on this as the days and weeks pass. For now, it’s best to take a step back and look at it objectively. We have no idea what happened behind the scenes. Any opinions relating to the situation should be taken with a grain of salt.