Tony Dungy believes teams across the NFL need to change their approach with Antonio Brown, whose tenure with the Buccaneers came to a screeching halt Sunday at MetLife Stadium.
Although Brown is immensely talented, with the potential to make a real impact for those needing an offensive boost, his bizarre meltdown in the third quarter of Tampa Bay’s 28-24 win over the New York Jets was yet another troubling incident.
“I’ve said this in the past: I feel sorry for Antonio Brown. He’s talented, but he needs help,” Dungy, a former NFL head coach, said Sunday during NBC’s “Football Night in America” broadcast. “In the NFL, we’re not doing him any favors if we keep signing him and keep rewarding this kind of behavior. Don’t sign him until he gets some help.”
Dungy also shared his thoughts regarding Brown via Twitter, resurfacing an old tweet from Sept. 7, 2019, in which he expressed similar sentiments.
“Hopefully he gets someone to help him figure this out,” Dungy wrote Sunday on Twitter while quote-tweeting his old tweet. “He was in a great situation and he gave it away once again.”
Brown ripped off his pads and ran off the field shirtless Sunday, his second game back after serving a three-game suspension for misrepresenting his COVID-19 vaccination status.
Reports later indicated that Brown refused to reenter the Week 17 contest due to an ankle injury, prompting a disagreement with Bucs head coach Bruce Arians that ultimately led to the wideout’s wild departure. But Arians since has denied that being the case. And Brown certainly looked OK physically while doing jumping jacks in the end zone. So, who knows?
Nevertheless, it was a strange scene that again raises questions about Brown’s mental health and whether he’s played his final NFL game. Arians said during his postgame news conference that Brown no longer was a member of the Bucs organization, adding to the 33-year-old’s long list of rocky breakups.
