Antonio Brown airs more grievances about the Buccaneers, Tom Brady, Alex Guerrero
Antonio Brown's exit from the NFL came quickly and largely unexpectedly. Although he seemed at times to be destined for a memorable departure, no one could have envisioned Brown stripping out of his jersey and shoulder pads and leaving the field during the game.
The notion that Brown quit quickly became balanced by the fact that Brown eventually was told by former Bucs coach Bruce Arians to go. Regardless, Brown's final act in the NFL was to run from the Tampa Bay sideline to the locker room on January 2, 2022.
He continues to make periodic headlines, but none for NFL football or anything close to it. (The latest A.B. story came from the arena league team he owns being kicked out of the league .) Brown recently appeared on Tyreek Hill’s podcast , It Needed To Be Said, for a lengthy and revealing discussion on various topics.
During the episode, Brown airs various grievances about the Buccaneers from his second and final season with the team. He suggests, for example, that the team tried to get him to come to the facility during his four-game suspension for having a falsified COVID vaccine card. Beyond the eyebrow-raising suggestion that the Bucs actually wanted him to show up at the practice facility during a suspension, he refused to do it because he wasn't being paid.
He seems to think the Bucs at that point were out to get him, to run him off despite Brown having a torn ankle ligament that was keeping him from planting his foot and cutting.
Brown also complains about Tom Brady's TB12 guru Alex Guerrero, in various ways. "He's not a doctor, he don't read the MRI," Brown says of Guerrero. "So like he's digging in my shit, like thinking he [will] rev me up to play. But my ligament tore. I can't really play at all."
Brown says it led to internal conflict between Brown and Guerrero and the team's trainer. Brown explains that he played against the Panthers after missing seven straight games even though he knew he shouldn't, but that he still gained more than a hundred yards against Carolina.
Brown also says Brady began telling Brown during the 2021 season that he's a "narcissist," with Brown believing Brady was no longer trying to "support" Brown but to "control" him.
Brown explains that, after the Panthers game, he tried to persuade the coaching staff to let him rest before the postseason. He was told there would be no rest, especially with so many injuries at the receiver position. Then came a call from Brady encouraging Brown to face the Jets, telling Brown he'd be throwing him the ball during that game.
That helped Brown choose to do it (having incentives he was trying to reach helped, although Brown doesn't mention those in the Hill podcast), with another Toradol shot, something Brown says gave him "Batman energy" to play while he knew he was hurt.
But Brown points out that he was still feeling "bad energy" from the situation, with mixed messages from the team and from Brady and from Guerrero, who (per Brown) didn't want to train Brown after Brown relied more on the team's trainers than Guerrero.
Brown says he paid Guerrero (and, indirectly, Brady) $100,000 to work with Brown during the season. "These boys like skinning me and they supposed to be the guys that having my back," Brown contends. "You know you don't charge guys that's your guys. Because we want you to be your best. You being your best helps me. So these guys actually charging me to work with me, and it's like the team actually paid this guy to like work with the players. I'm paying him on top of the payment [from the team] and he's not even going out of his way."
Brown then became frustrated during the Jets game. He says he was hurt, he was concerned the injury would get worse, he wasn't getting the ball (despite Brady's pre-game promises).
"[Guerrero] don't want to work with me, I'm paying him, [Brady] don't wanna throw me the ball, and you making me like I'm crazy," Brown says. "So, I'm crazy? Fuck all you mutherfuckers, I'm out of here."
One last point, until I'm out of here (until the next post). The description to the episode suggests that Brown discusses "why Tom Brady really unretired." I listened to the whole thing, curious to hear Brown's perspective. If he addresses why Brady actually unretired in early 2022, I flat-out missed it.
If anyone heard anything about why Brady truly unretired, let me know at florio@profootballtalk.com.
