Credit: Unsplash

Brown was cut from the team for his outburst.

On Sunday, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were playing away against the New York Jets at Met Life Stadium. The game was going a bit rocky for the Bucs, though they ultimately took it home 28-24, but during the third quarter, there seemed to be a verbal altercation between Bucs player Antonio Brown and team coach Bruce Arians. After some shouting, Brown threw off his jersey and gear and left the stadium entirely. When the press caught up with Arians after the game, he confirmed that Brown had officially left the team, and he had no problem letting him go.

“He is no longer a Buc,” Arians said. “That’s the end of the story. Let’s talk about the guys that went out there and won the game.” When asked for more details, Arians simply said, “I’m not talking about him. He’s no longer part of the Bucs.”

Arians eventually divulged that he had been trying to get Brown to get on the field, and Brown refused to do so twice. Arians told him to get off the field, and Brown renounced the team on the spot. Arians admitted he wasn’t sure why Brown was so firm against getting into the game. Meanwhile, Brown’s apparently-former teammates have expressed their sadness at seeing him go.

Antonio Brown has a meltdown at the hand of the #Jets and #BraxtonBerrios pic.twitter.com/RGhSYpyrOu

— Miller (@mmmmillah) January 2, 2022

“We all love him. We care about him deeply. We want to see him be at his best. Unfortunately it won’t be with our team,” Tom Brady said. “I think everyone should be very compassionate and empathetic toward some very difficult things that are happening.”

“I found out when we got into the locker room at the end of the game,” said Le’Veon Bell. “I instantly sent him a text, to try to catch up with him real quick. Obviously he texted me back and I talked to him. He’s still one of my close friends. Like you won’t hear me talking bad about AB at all. Obviously I understand, things happen, but he’s one of my closest friends I’ve been around, a close teammate, overall a good person. Some bad decision-making at times, but he’s human, not perfect, and we’ll continue to move on without him and keep moving forward.”