How many football fans watching Sunday’s game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New York Jets said “I told you so” with about three minutes left in the third quarter?
No, that wasn’t because many expected the Jets to be up two touchdowns over Tom Brady’s Bucs.
Instead, the four words likely came as Buccaneers wideout Antonio Brown took off his jersey and shoulder pads, threw his undershirt and gloves into the stands at MetLife Stadium, and ran shirtless through the end zone while holding up the peace sign.
It marked the end of Brown’s Week 17 game, the end of his tenure in Tampa Bay, and perhaps his professional football career.
We’re not here to say it’s all a laughing matter. It’s not. There clearly are some issues with the truly troubled wideout, who has left many harmed in his wake. The reality, however, is that Brown was just released by a third straight team because of his inability to stay out of his own way. It’s the fourth time his time with an NFL franchise ended on a sour note — a reported shirtless police escort to the airport, to be exact.
A trip down memory lane: Brown didn’t play in Week 17 for the Pittsburgh Steelers in Dec. 2018 after an incident with a teammate. He was traded that offseason. Brown was released by the Las Vegas Raiders in Sept. 2019 after a flurry of bizarre circumstances and missed training camp practices. Brown then lasted 11 days with the New England Patriots in Sept. 2019 before he was cut due to a handful of allegations including sexual assault and sexual misconduct. He was suspended eight games in July 2020 due to violations of the personal conduct policy.
That led Brown to sign with Tom Brady and the Buccaneers in Oct. 2020 where he went on to play, and win, a Super Bowl with the organization. Of course, his stop wasn’t void of controversy. Brown recently was suspended another three games by the NFL for using a fake vaccination card (a federal crime, no less). Still, Arians and the Bucs expressed their support of Brown while the head coach, who came under fire for defending Brown despite originally saying he had a zero tolerance policy, even referred to him as — and this is quite laughable — a “model citizen” during his time in Tampa Bay.
Well, that was until Week 17.
So while Brown’s tenure with Tampa Bay lasted longer than the two stops before it, his sideline tantrum Sunday just proved to be the final straw in what was a rather familiar ending.
Who knows where Brown’s career goes from here? But it’s certainly not far-fetched to think he just threw up the peace sign to his last chance in the league.
