There is a reason the Bucs haven’t released or suspended Antonio Brown.
There is more to the story, and it is possible that the Bucs are more in the wrong than Brown was in this situation. Because of AB’s reputation, he rightfully doesn’t get a lot of benefit of the doubt from a lot of people, but just because someone has a shaky past doesn’t mean they are guilty in the present.
If I rob nine liquor stores and get away with it, but don’t rob the 10th, you can only charge me with what I have done, not with an additional charge because of what I did before.
In this case, according to Tampa Bay Times Rick Stroud, there were serious concerns about Antonio Brown’s ankle coming into the Jets game to the point he had to get an outside surgeon to look at it.
Antonio’s friends were worried about the pain he was experiencing so they encouraged him to see a top surgeon outside the Bucs’ organization. That visit and an MRI confirm his serious pain and that story is developing.
Antonio is known for having a high pain threshold but the belief is Antonio probably should’ve never been on the field to begin with Sunday. An official statement from Brown’s camp will be issued soon. They have stayed quiet since Sunday.
AB has contended that he tried to tough it out with his bad ankle but didn’t feel healthy enough to continue in the game. That is when Bruce Arians were the one who lost his cool and kicked Brown off the team for not wanting to play. All the video from the game prior to him leaving the field shows him to be very calm and not upset about anything.
Arians will not discuss what he and Brown talked about before he kicked him off the team, and he can’t admit publicly that Brown told him his ankle was an issue or he would be liable. No matter what you think about Brown personally or how he handled being fired in the middle of the game, if the Bucs tried to force him back on the field after he said he was hurt, they are in the wrong, not AB.
Flip the pages for Stroud’s Tweets and AB from last night’s Nets game.