EAST RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY - JANUARY 02: Antonio Brown #81 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers looks on against the New York Jets during the game at MetLife Stadium on January 02, 2022 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
Antonio Brown’s past four years have been tumultuous and dramatic, to say the least. As soon as you think AB has moved beyond it, another crazy story about the troubled wide receiver pops up on your Twitter feed.
The latest installment: Brown’s meltdown during the Bucs’ come-from-behind win against the Jets Sunday.
In the third quarter, the Bucs were surprisingly trailing the lowly Jets 24-10 when a visibly upset Brown launched into a tantrum on the sidelines. He removed his shoulder pads, threw his jersey, shirt, and gloves into the stands, and walked off the field.
Talk about drama.
Given the look-at-me antics, it wasn’t too surprising when, following the game, Tampa coach Bruce Arians declared Brown was “no longer a Buc.” Bye bye, Antonio.
With Brown apparently a free agent once again, let’s track his fall from grace—it’s been a long fall, indeed, since his glory years with the Steelers.
Brown Asks for Trade
February 2019
The relationship between Brown and the Steelers, his NFL home for the first nine years of his career, got rocky during the 2018 season. Brown butted heads with Pittsburgh’s two alphas: coach Mike Tomlin and QB Ben Roethlisberger. Brown even got benched for Week 17.
When the campaign wrapped up, Brown asked the black and yellow—with whom he’d racked up seven 1,000-yard seasons—to deal him to another franchise during the second year of a four-year, $68 million extension he signed in 2017.
Hello, Oakland
March 2019
Though Brown was nearly traded to the Bills (the Bills would later fill their WR void with a deal for Stefon Diggs), the deal fell through, and Brown ended up in Oakland instead. Pittsburgh got third- and fifth-round picks in the deal.
It seemed like a small price for Oakland to pay for an All-Pro receiver. But as the Raiders would soon discover, Brown wasn’t done causing mayhem.
Beefs With Former Teammates
April 2019
Brown’s Twitter fingers were working overtime during 2019. In April, having moved on to the West Coast, Brown got into social media skirmishes with two former teammates: JuJu Smith-Schuster and Ryan Clark.
I Want My Helmet!
August 2019
The NFL changed its helmet rules, and Brown was no longer permitted to wear his favored style: the Schutt AiR Advantage. Thus, Brown—who said other helmets obstructed his vision—filed a grievance against the NFL, threatening to retire if he didn’t get his way.
He didn’t. The arbitrator ruled in favor of the NFL. Brown filed a second grievance later that month, losing again. But he reportedly managed to turn his complaint into an endorsement deal.
Raiders Fine Brown, Leading to Confrontation
September 2019
During the helmet saga, Brown skipped Raiders team events and practices. So in September, a frustrated Mike Mayock (the team’s GM) fined Brown $54,000.
The next day, Brown confronted Mayock at practice and reportedly called him a “cracker.” Brown reportedly had to be separated from teammates and punted a football.
The Raiders threatened to suspend Brown, but he issued an “emotional apology” to his team the next day.
Raiders Release Brown, Who Signs With Patriots
September 2019
It seemed like everything was settled…and then it wasn’t. The Raiders voided the guaranteed money—more than $29 million—on Brown’s contract, and he demanded to be released. Oakland granted his wish.
The day he was released, Brown agreed to a one-year deal with New England. Amid ongoing allegations of sexual and personal misconduct, Brown played one game with New England, catching four passes for 56 yards and a touchdown. The marriage between Brown and Tom Brady looked beautiful.
Just two weeks after Brown headed to Foxboro, however, further allegations and evidence surfaced, and New England released Brown.
Lawsuits Allege Instances of Sexual Assault
September 2019
While Brown was preparing for the Patriots’ Week 3 matchup against the Jets, he was leveled with serious allegations that made New England ultimately re-think it’s connection with Brown.
AB was hit with lawsuits in Florida for three alleged instances of sexual assault. We outlined it all here.
A woman, 28-year-old Britney Taylor, filed a lawsuit against Brown in the Southern District of Florida. In the filing, Taylor alleges that Brown sexually assaulted her three times and says the third time it happened, Brown raped her.
On September 20, the Patriots released Brown after his second accuser from a Sports Illustrated report that detailed alleged transgressions revealed that Brown sent her menacing text messages. AB only ended up playing one game with the Patriots. He was also dropped by Nike before his release.
Agent Terminates Agreement
January 2020
No team wanted to sign Brown during the rest of the season, though he did have a tryout with New Orleans, and some legitimately questioned whether his career was over.
In January 2020, his longtime loyal agent, Drew Rosenhaus, decided to part ways with Brown. The WR later filed a lawsuit against Rosenhaus.
Brown Suspended Eight Weeks
July 2020
Following an extensive investigation of his wrongdoing, the NFL suspended Brown for the first eight games of the 2020 season. At the time, it didn’t seem to matter much, as he wasn’t currently on an NFL roster.
Brown even suggested in July that he was retiring.
Brown Joins Buccaneers
October 2020
Needless to say, he didn’t end up retiring. Instead, he rejoined Brady, heading to Florida’s west coast on a one-year contract.
He was reunited with Tampa head coach Bruce Arians, who was his offensive coordinator in Pittsburgh.
Brown Wins First Super Bowl
February 2021
Brown played eight impactful games with Tampa, catching 45 passes for 483 yards and four touchdowns. As one of Tom Brady’s favorite weapons, he helped Tampa win the Super Bowl, besting Kansas City.
Brown Re-signs with Bucs
April 2021
Following his strong 2020 campaign, Tampa was happy to bring Brown back on another one-year deal for the 2021 season. His contract, loaded with incentives, was worth a base of $3.1 million.
Suspension for Fake Vax Card
December 2021
In September 2021, Tampa placed Brown on the reserve/COVID-19 list, leading him to miss Tampa Bay’s 34-24 loss to Los Angeles—a clash between NFC powers—in Week 3.
Then, in early December, the NFL suspended him for three games.
Why? Well, Brown misrepresented his vaccine status. This came to light after a Tampa Bay Times report in which Brown’s former personal chef spilled the beans.
Tampa Bay Era Ends
January 2022
Brown returned in Week 16 against Carolina and immediately proved he’s still one of the league’s elite wide outs, hauling in 10 passes for 101 yards.
But the positive emotions didn’t last long.
The next week marked Tampa’s scrappy battle with the Jets.
So, what led to Brown’s meltdown? As Arians shared in an interview with Jay Glazer, he told Brown to go into the game and Brown twice refused. After the second refusal, Arians told him to leave.
The tenured coach said, “never seen anything like (Brown’s jersey-tossing meltdown) in all my years.” TB12 was asked about Brown after the game and stated: “We all love him, we care about him deeply, we wanna see him be at his best, unfortunately it won’t be with our team.”
The episode didn’t seem to stop Brown from living his best life. Not only did he drop a new song Sunday, one night after the incident at MetLife Stadium, Brown was spotted sitting courtisde at Barclays Center to take in the Nets-Grizzlies game.
Four days after the bizarre incident, and after Brown took to social media to claim that Tampa Bay ignored a serious ankle injury he was battling and that was the reason he refused to go into the game, the Buccaneers officially cut Brown. Arians explained his version of the events in a rare Thursday appearance before the media: