TAMPA, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Buccaneers officially severed ties with Antonio Brown, terminating the contract of the mercurial receiver while also contradicting the player’s claim that he was fired in the middle of a game for not playing through an ankle injury.
Coach Bruce Arians said Thursday that Brown was upset that he was not being targeted enough in the opening half of last Sunday’s game against the New York Jets and that the situation evolved to a boiling point in the third quarter.
“At no point and time during that game did he ever ask for the trainer or doctor about his ankle. That’s the normal protocol. … I was never notified of it,” Arians said, discussing the circumstances of Brown’s bizarre exit in detail for the first time publicly.
“He was very upset at halftime about who was getting targeted. We got that calmed down. Players took care of that,” the coach added. “It started again on the sideline. We called the personnel group that he had played in the entire game. He refused to go in the game.”
Arians said when he became aware of the situation, he went to Brown to ask “what’s going on?”
The coach said Brown responded “I ain’t playing … I ain’t getting the ball.”
“That’s when I said you’re done. Get out of here. That’s the end of it. We are working on Carolina,” Arians said, referring to this week’s opponent. “That’s the end of the story. Hopefully it ends today.”
The Bucs announced Brown’s contract was terminated one day after the receiver broke his silence on the matter, alleging in a statement released by the player’s attorney that Arians cut him on the spot because Brown declined to re-enter the game because he was too injured to continue playing.
“You can’t force a player to play. They have that choice. It’s their body,” Arians said. “He decided to play.”
Brown alleged a coverup.
“I didn’t quit. I was cut. I didn’t walk away from my brothers. I was thrown out,” the receiver’s statement said.
“Being fired on the sideline for having a painful injury was bad enough. Then came their ‘spin.’ Coach denied on national television that he knew about my ankle. That’s 100% inaccurate,” Brown added. “Not only did he know I missed several games with the injury, he and I exchanged texts days before the game where he clearly acknowledged my injury.”
Brown, who has a long history of troubled behavior on and off the field, including being accused by two women of sexual assault — one said he raped her — removed his jersey, shoulder pads, undershirt and gloves before leaving the sideline.