Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Antonio Brown has caught himself under the spotlight again and all was not due to him taking off his free agent status. Instead, Brown hit major news headlines over a tweet revealing his biggest “regret” in the NFL, saying that he will never get to see himself playing a game live.
Brown managed to make fans, as well as reporters, confused. Many also noticed he also copied a quote from Kanye West. Regardless, Brown was able to make enthusiasts laugh with his joke.
“My biggest regret in my career doesn’t involve calling my GM a “cracker”, or showing up to Raiders camp late in a hot air balloon with frozen feet, or throwing rocks at that UPS driver, and it definitely doesn’t involve taking my shirt off and doing a victory lap around the Jets’ stadium mid game while throwing up deuces,” Brown wrote.
“My biggest regret is that I’ll never get to see me, Antonio Brown, play a game live. Sure, I can watch the game afterward, but I can’t imagine what that was like for you all to see something like that. Like watching the Beatles or Jesus perform at Red Rocks.”
Brown’s career with Bucs
Brown is currently a free agent after he was released by the Bucs on January 6 this year. His release was due to an off-season knee injury that he received in the 2020 season.
Tampa Bay had signed him to a one-year contract worth $6.25 million alongside a $2 million signing bonus, and $3.1 million guaranteed in the following year despite returning not long after his surgery—since the team was certain the 34-year-old can play as he had passed the physical exam.
However, Brown’s relationship with the Bucs started to go south. In Week 7 of the 2021 season, as the team was playing the New York Jets, Brown was seen taking off his jersey, shoulder pads, glove, as well as his shirt and abruptly left the field and sprinted straight to the team’s locker room.
Later in the postgame press conference, Arians called out Brown and decided that the seven-time Pro Bowler was out of the team immediately.
“He is no longer a Buc. That’s the end of the story,” Arians said on January 2. “… I’m not talking about him. He’s not part of the Bucs.”
In the same press conference, Brady also provided his response, adding the team “care about him deeply” and “unfortunately it won’t be with our team”.
“We all love him. We care about him deeply. We want to see him be at his best, and unfortunately, it won’t be with our team, but we have a lot of friendships that will last,” Brady said.
“And again, I think the most important thing about football are the relationships with your friends and your teammates and they go beyond the field. I think everyone should be very compassionate and empathetic toward some very difficult things that are happening.”
When asked about his season in January, Brown blamed reporters for tailoring his story.
“I don’t want to talk about that. You guys are all drama. It’s all about football. We’re going to talk about Carolina or I don’t want to talk to you guys,” Brown said via The Athletic’s Greg Auman.
“It’s a lot of drama you guys create, a lot of drama people create who want stuff from me. That’s a part of life, a part of being in the position. I can’t control what people want from me, what people write about me.”
In two seasons with the Bucs, Brown appeared in 15 games, recorded 87 receptions and 1028 receiving yards.