Antonio Brown throws his gloves into the crowd after leaving the team
Antonio Brown throws his gloves into the crowd after leaving the team in the thrid quarter of their game against the NY Jets.

Yesterday, during an otherwise fun lunch I had with some friends, I said some casually judgmental things about a professional football player named Antonio Brown. During that lunch, I repeated some things about his demeanor during the recent game his team (Buccaneers) played against the NY Jets. In brief, I said that he had complained to the team about potentially missing bonuses, and that (in simple terms) if he wasn’t going to be targeted [thrown to] more, he was out [going to quit].

In other words, I accused him of saying stuff that made him out to be selfish, petty, self-serving, and motivated only by money. There was a narrative in the news (especially from the NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport) about the value of Antonio Brown’s potential lost bonus payments and the number of times his current team accommodated his behavior. 12345

I haven’t been able to find any story that claims Antonio Brown had those motivations. I only find a lot of stories detailing how much money he was walking away from by “quitting” in the manner that he did.

But, this morning, Antonio Brown’s side of the story came out 6 7. He said that he had communicated directly about the nature of his ankle injury, and communicated that he couldn’t “make football plays” with his ankle. He said that he was fired on the sideline by his coach, and he was told that if he wasn’t going to play, he had to leave the sideline.

I feel bad for jumping on the bandwagon that tried to paint Antonio Brown as a selfish, petty, unprofessional example of a football player. I guess that interpretation of events fit the larger narrative about him that the media has shared over time.

Namely, that he is potentially dangerous to himself and others, that he is troubled with mental health issues, that he isn’t a team player, and that he is a toxic presence for any team that would hire him.

I realize that some of this narrative has been published in order to damage Mr. Brown’s ability to earn an income playing football. AND, most importantly, the stories have traction because of a prevailing racist attitude about professional football players, and the amount of money they make playing football.

I have long felt that professional football (like many other professional sports) capitalizes on athletes’ desperation. That an athlete would do almost literally anything to continue playing the game. Surgeries, painkillers, and bravado allows these athletes to continue putting a product on the field that makes local people want to pay money to see it, and if the TEAM is good enough, the TV folks will pay money to televise it for a broader audience.

So, there is a lot of pressure on athletes to play hurt in any number of ways, physical or otherwise. And when these athletes become broken-down wrecks, they are shuffled off the team. Some of them are cast into oblivion, with none of the skills necessary to earn money outside their athletic prowess.

To say that I don’t walk in the same circle as Antonio Brown would be an understatement. To know only that fact should have been enough for me not to offer the things I said during the conversation. I get myself in trouble repeating second- (or in this case, third-) hand information. Even in a context that is as low stakes as a lunch among friends, I should know better than to judge another person. I regret it, and I feel bad for doing it.

Footnotes:

  1. Tweet1: #Bucs WR Antonio Brown took his uniform off along with his equipment, threw it into the stands, and left the field. Of course he did. ↩

  2. Tweet2: Tampa Bay has given him endless chances. But they have grown frustrated with him through his rehab and suspension. But this… hard to come back and play again for this team. ↩

  3. Ian Rapoport: “They sent him packing on the sidelines and left Antonio Brown with a $1million incentive right within his reach. He was going to get it but he left all of that and left the field. And now he is no longer a member of the Buccaneers.” (https://www.nationalworld.com/sport/other-sport/what-antonio-brown-told-tampa-bay-buccaneers-mid-game-before-release-as-1million-bonus-lost-3513583). According to Spotrac, Brown had three separate bonuses he could receive, each totaling $333,000. He needed eight more receptions, 55 more receiving yards and one more touchdown for his big payday. Brown had another game and a half — the Buccaneers play the Panthers in Week 18 — to reach those marks. (https://nypost.com/2022/01/03/antonio-browns-meltdown-could-cost-him-1-million/) ↩

  4. Steven Taranto: As noted in a tweet by Spotrac, Brown had needed eight more catches to unlock a $333,333 contract bonus, 55 more receiving yards to unlock another $333,333 bonus, and only one more receiving touchdown to unlock one more $333,333 bonus. All three bonuses would have amounted to $1 million. (https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/antonio-browns-mid-game-meltdown-cost-him-a-shot-at-1-million-in-contract-incentives/) ↩

  5. ZACH GOODALL:”It has been theorized that Antonio Brown quit on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers because he was, hypothetically, benched. Buccaneers sideline reporter TJ Rives gave the theory legs by initially stating exactly that minutes after Brown ripped off his uniform, ran to the locker room and exited MetLife Stadium in the third quarter against the New York Jets on Sunday. If that were the case, as childish as his reaction was to whatever happened on Tampa Bay’s sideline, at least there would be some understanding in regards to Brown’s frustration.” (https://www.si.com/nfl/buccaneers/news/tampa-bay-buccaneers-antonio-brown-quitting-sacrificed-bonus-money) ↩

  6. Jenna Laine: “However, the wideout’s attorney Sean Burstyn told ESPN that Brown told the training staff and Arians that he felt he was too hurt to continue in the game and that Brown’s ankle had been discussed with the coach and the training staff throughout the week. Brown said the same in his statement. “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,” Brown said. “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. Coach was telling me that if I didn’t play hurt, then I was done with the Bucs.” He added that what happened then triggered him to leave the field. “I know we were losing to the Jets and that was frustrating for all of us. But I could not make football plays on that ankle,” he said. “Yes, I walked off the field. But there’s a major difference between launching from the line and taking hits, compared to jogging off the field with a rush of emotions going through your mind. I am reflecting on my reaction, but there was a trigger. The trigger was someone telling me that I’m not allowed to feel pain.” (https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/33002723/antonio-brown-releases-lengthy-statement-tells-side-story-days-leaving-tampa-bay-buccaneers-game) ↩

  7. Brown’s statement in its entirety: “First of all, I’d like to express my gratitude to the Bucs, fans, and my teammates. The Bucs helped me return to productive football after I had difficulties that could have ended my career. We worked together to resolve those difficulties, and I will always appreciate that. Being part of a Super Bowl champion team and then a contender is a dream come true.” “I make mistakes. I’m working on myself and I have positive influences around me. But one thing I don’t do is shy away from playing hard on the field. No one can accuse me of not giving it my all every play.” “Because of my commitment to the game, I relented to pressure directly from my coach to play injured. Despite the pain, I suited up, the staff injected me with what I now know was a powerful and sometimes dangerous painkiller that the NFLPA has warned against using, and I gave it my all for the team. 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. 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. Coach was telling me that if I didn’t play hurt, then I was done with the Bucs.” “I didn’t quit. I was cut. I didn’t walk away from my brothers. I was thrown out. Being fired on the sideline for having a painful injury was bad enough. Then came their ‘spin.’ Coach denied on national television that he knew about my ankle. That’s 100% inaccurate. Not only did he know I missed several games with the injury, he and I exchanged texts days before the game where he clearly acknowledged my injury. He obviously knew I was on the injury list. And the GM acknowledged after the game in text messages to my camp that I did tell coach about my ankle pain on Sunday.” “I know we were losing to the Jets and that was frustrating for all of us. But I could not make football plays on that ankle. Yes, I walked off the field. But there’s a major difference between launching from the line and taking hits, compared to jogging off the field with a rush of emotions going through your mind. I am reflecting on my reaction, but there was a trigger. The trigger was someone telling me that I’m not allowed to feel pain. I acknowledge my past. But my past does not make me a second class citizen. My past does not forfeit my right to be heard when I am in pain.” “First they cut me. Now they cage me. Instead of asking how I felt or getting to the bottom of it, the team texted my camp promoting a totally false narrative that I randomly acted out without any explanation. They even told us in writing ‘don’t spin this’ any other way. I have stress, I have things I need to work on. But the worst part of this has been the Bucs’ repeated effort to portray this as a random outburst. They are telling people that first I walked off, then I was cut. No. No. No. I was cut first and then I went home. They threw me out like an animal and I refused to wear their brand on my body, so I took my jersey off.” “As part of their ongoing cover-up, they are acting like I wasn’t cut and now demanding that I see a doctor of their choice to examine my ankle. What they did not know until now is that on Monday morning I had an urgent MRI on my ankle. It shows broken bone fragments stuck in my ankle, the ligament torn from the bone, and cartilage loss, which are beyond painful. You can see the bone bulging from the outside. But that must and can be repaired. The MRI has been read by two top orthopedic surgeons in NYC, including Dr. Martin O’Malley at Hospital for Special Surgery. Not realizing that I had already scheduled a surgery at HSS, the Bucs ‘ordered’ me under penalty of discipline and with a few hours’ notice to show up to a more junior doctor at HSS for another opinion. What a joke. They’re playing like I wasn’t cut, giving me a surprise attack ‘order’ to show up to another doctor with no reasonable notice, and setting this whole thing up as a basis to cut me because what they did on Sunday was not legitimate. Sorry, GM. I already received a confirming opinion from the Top Doc at the hospital you ‘ordered’ me to go to.” “I love the Bucs fans. I really do. I love my teammates and everyone who showed me grace and believed in me. I gave the Bucs everything I had on the field. What the organization is doing now needs to get cleaned up. I do not understand how people publicly claiming to be concerned about my mental health can do these things to me in private.” “Once my surgery is complete, I’ll be back to 100% and looking forward to next season. Business gonna be BOOMIN!” ↩

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