You have to give Bruce Arians credit for this: he loves to go back on his word to an impressive degree. Case in point: Antonio Brown.
Upon the Tampa Bay Buccaneers signing Brown last year (something Arians originally said wasn’t going to happen), the head coach declared that one mistake would spell the end of the embattled wideout’s time with the team.
A federal offense wasn’t enough, however, as Brown is set to return to the Bucs this week after a three-game suspension for submitting a fake vaccination card. In a development that will surprise absolutely nobody, Arians thinks that Brown, and safety Mike Edwards, have paid the appropriate price.
“It’s what’s in the best interest of our football team,” Arians told reporters Sunday night, via ESPN, after his team got blanked by the New Orleans Saints. “Both those guys have served their time and we welcome them back.”
If Arians only cares about winning football games, then that’s the way it is — rightly or wrongly. But hopefully this egregious flip-flop spells the end of Arians’ laughable tough-guy act with Brown, because clearly he’s all talk. Tom Brady, for inexplicable reasons, loves Brown, and Arians must know that his star quarterback would be incensed if Brown was cut.
Does that make Brady the first active player in the league to simultaneously serve as general manager? Possibly.
