Former NFL wide receiver Antonio Brown will accept a plea agreement next week that sharply reduces the second-degree attempted murder charge against him and would result in probation rather than prison time, his attorney said Wednesday.
Brown is scheduled to enter the deal Sept. 30 before Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Marisa Tinkler Mendez, attorney Mark Eiglarsh said in a statement. Prosecutors offered terms that “dramatically reduce the criminal charge against him and result in probation rather than a prison sentence,” Eiglarsh said.
“They made him an offer he couldn’t refuse,” he added.
Brown was charged after a May 16, 2025, confrontation outside a celebrity boxing event in Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood. Prosecutors alleged he fought with Zul-Qarnain Kwame Nantambu, took a firearm from a security guard and fired two shots while pursuing him. Nantambu told investigators one bullet grazed his neck.
Brown left the country after the incident. U.S. marshals arrested him in Dubai in November 2025 and extradited him to Florida. He pleaded not guilty and has maintained he acted in self-defense. His lawyers filed a motion seeking dismissal under Florida’s Stand Your Ground law.
If convicted at trial on the original charge, Brown faced a potential sentence of up to 30 years, including a 20-year mandatory minimum tied to the alleged use of a firearm, according to court records and statements from his attorney.
Eiglarsh said Brown is not conceding the state’s original allegations.
“This was not an easy decision,” Eiglarsh told TMZ Sports. “Antonio believes in his innocence. He believes strongly in his Stand Your Ground defense, and he believes he would ultimately prevail at trial. But when prosecutors put an offer on the table that transforms a potential decades-long prison sentence into a significantly reduced charge and probation, there was simply no way he could reasonably turn it down.”
He also said Brown accepted the offer because he and his family could not afford another year or more of ankle-monitor restrictions and litigation.
Earlier this month, Nantambu’s attorney, Richard L. Cooper, said his client had forgiven Brown, citing religious beliefs, and no longer wished to participate in the prosecution. Cooper told the Miami Herald on Wednesday that Nantambu is glad to put the incident behind him. A victim’s decision not to cooperate does not automatically end a state prosecution.
The reduced charge and exact terms of probation have not been publicly detailed. Those details are expected to be entered on the record at the Sept. 30 hearing.
Brown, a Super Bowl champion and four-time first-team All-Pro with the Pittsburgh Steelers, has a lengthy history of off-field legal and team controversies that followed him after he left the NFL. The Miami case was among the most serious criminal charges he has faced.
