Antonio Brown Announces Season-Ending Ankle Surgery After Bucs Debacle

Antonio Brown still is a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, technically, with the team having not yet cut the receiver from its roster.

But don’t expect Brown to make a playoff push with another team.

The wide receiver on Wednesday released a personal statement detailing his side of the entire Week 17 debacle. Reports indicated that Brown didn’t want to enter the game after instruction from Bruce Arians, so the Bucs’ head coach told him to leave. Brown obliged in rather dramatic fashion, but now says he was dealing with significant ankle pain and will undergo season-ending ankle surgery.

“Once my surgery is complete I’ll be back to 100% and looking forward to next season,” Brown said in his statement, via ESPN’s Adam Schefter. “Business gonna be BOOMIN!”

The wideout detailed going to see a top orthopedic surgeon in New York City on Monday after the sideline altercation Sunday. Brown claims an MRI revealed “broken bone gradients stuck in (Brown’s) ankle, the ligament torn from the bone, and cartilage loss” despite Brown being cleared by Buccaneers trainers to play. Brown felt pain after getting some run in the game and didn’t want to go back in.

Brown insists Arians knew about this injury and texted with him about it entering a game against the Jets, but that he felt forced to play anyway.