Antonio Brown's name hadn't been in the spotlight —at least not controversially — in recent months. He had a solid string of success after signing with the Buccaneers in the middle of the 2020 regular season, continued producing into the postseason with two touchdowns in the playoffs, and signed back with the Bucs ahead of what should be another great campaign for Tampa Bay.
On Thursday morning, however, Brown let his emotion get the best of him and was kicked out of practice following some altercations with visiting Tennessee Titans defensive backs. ESPN NFL Nation reporter Turron Davenport tweeted that Brown and Titans second-year cornerback Kristian Fulton exchanged words during a rep in which the veteran wideout thought he was being held. That escalated into a helmet-to-helmet confrontation where Brown eventually threw a punch at Fulton.
That was at around 10:21 a.m., based on the timing of the tweet. No further action was taken, however, and it seems as though the scuffle dissolved rather quickly.
Eight minutes later, though, Brown got into another altercation with a Tennessee player, this time second-year defensive back Chris Jackson, and it ended with AB ripping off his adversary's helmet. That move was enough to warrant Brown's removal from practice.
Head coach Bruce Arians said after practice that he "didn't see any fighting" and differentiated that term from just "pushing and shoving." However you slice it, though, Brown did a little too much for the liking of the two teams involved. Luckily, this was just a practice scuffle, as it may have come with some more punishments had it occurred during a regular season game. In fact, the new taunting rules may have prevented the jawing from reaching such a pinnacle in the first place.
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