Among the many twists and turns the Tampa Bay Buccaneers experienced over the last three seasons, nothing will be able to top the circus that Antonio Brown rolled into town with.
Specifically, Brown was the circus but the Bucs knew that when they made a deal with the devil to bring him in during the 2020 season. When he came to Tampa Bay, Brown's reputation was firmly established, yet the Bucs brought him in anyway hoping he'd add to an already stacked offense.
While Brown was productive in his first season with Tampa Bay, the wheels came flying off soon after and his tenure ended in utter disaster. The Bucs justifiably caught a lot of flack for bringing Brown in amid serious legal issues and were rewarded by watching him run off the field shirtless after quitting in the middle of a game.
It's a Hall of Fame 'F around and find out' moment, and is a stain on the Tom Brady era in Tampa Bay.
Despite how things ended, Brown didn't always come across as unhinged. Ali Marpet played with Brown during the 2020 Super Bowl season and noticed an entirely different player than who he ended up being.
Ali Marpet details what might have gone wrong with Antonio Brown in Tampa Bay
“He was positive. He was extremely positive,” Marpet said on a recent episode of The Beer Money podcast. “Towards the end there, my own perspective, I don’t really know what it was – maybe he wasn’t getting the ball enough, whatever – but at some point whenever it started to sour, it like really got sour. He genuinely I don’t think wanted to be there in that capacity and everybody felt that and he walked off on his terms, I suppose.”
That seems to be a continuation of the pattern Brown showed throughout his career in the NFL. Whether it was in Pittsburgh, Oakland, New England, or Tampa Bay, Brown never left a team on good terms.
It's also telling that Marpet notes that 'everybody felt it', as Brown running off the field shirtless during that Jets game feels like a turning point in the Tom Brady era. The Bucs didn't implode because of Brown, but that was a very distinct moment where it seemed like everyone stopped having fun.