Just when Buccaneers fans thought they were clear of the Antonio Brown drama, he pulls us all right back in. The result this time might be Brown accidentally telling the truth about why he left Tampa Bay.
As seems to be the case anytime Brown runs into trouble he wants to distract people from, he has once again called out his time with the Buccaneers to garner some clout. This time, however, he might have bitten too deep into the golden apple and lost his teeth.
We all remember his infamous final moments with the team. The image of Brown running off the field shirtless in the middle of a game is both the lasting memory of his time in Tampa Bay and a sad coda to a career that once seemed like it was destined to end in Canton.
Instead, Brown’s antics — both annoying and allegedly illegal — have tarnished his reputation. That hasn’t stopped him from revisiting the past, not to atone for his own sins but rather continue to place blame on others for his failures. He’s done it so many times that it appears he’s accidentally circled back to the truth.
Antonio Brown reveals the reason he ran out on Buccaneers
Talking with Tyreek Hill on the It Needed To Be Said podcast, Brown directly contradicts his previous statements about why he left the Bucs.
“Tom called me like ‘Yo, this week man, the Jets man, they sweet man imma hit you with like 10 to 12 ,’ ” Brown said. “So, he gonna gas me up so you know me, that’s all I need to hear like yo, you gonna throw me the ball, this is like me saying like I got a new crib like you know me, you know what I’m saying.”
Then Brown reveals what seems to be the truth about why he flipped out and ran off the field.
“You don’t want to throw me the ball and you making me like I’m crazy, so, I was like, ‘I’m crazy, f–k all you motherf–kers, I’m out of here.’ ” Brown said.
Brown has previously been adamantly on the record saying the Bucs tried to force him to play injured and that’s why he left. It’s always been about self preservation with Brown, and now he’s either flip-flopping his story or accidentally telling the truth.
Either way, it confirms that he’s an unreliable narrator, and anything he says needs to be taken with a fistful of salt. It also seems to confirm what the Bucs side of the story has been from the start, and that Brown became frustrated with what he interpreted as a lack of involvement in the offense.
Who knows if this is the last time we'll hear from Brown on the matter. Chances are he'll revist this again the next time he's getting sued by an Arena League team or something else, but it certainly feels like the truth has been revealed on what really happened that day in East Rutherford.