The past few days have been filled with rumors, story lines and speculation regarding Antonio Brown's dramatic exit from the Buccaneers' Week 17 game — and from the team as a whole — against the Jets. On Tuesday, a new angle to the saga was introduced, with Rick Stroud of The Tampa Bay Times updating us on Brown's apparent injury issues that may have played a major part in the whole ordeal.
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And on Wednesday, Brown says that a lot of what Stroud had reported is true, adding more information with an account that he shared in a statement through his attorney, Sean Burstyn.
Brown begins the statement by sharing his gratitude for the Buccaneers, the team's fan base and his teammates for the opportunity and assistance in aiding his "return to productive football" after potentially career-ending difficulties and mistakes that he'd made. But it didn't take long for Brown to then share his side of the story, much of which focuses on how head coach Bruce Arians and the team staff dealt with his injury, including the section below:
Because of my commitment to the game, I relented to pressure directly from my coach to play injured. Despite the pain, I suited up, the staff injected me with what I now know was a powerful and sometimes dangerous painkiller that the NFLPA has warned against using, and I gave it my all for the team. I played until I was clear that I could not use my ankle to safely perform my playing responsibilities. On top of that, the pain was extreme. I took a seat on the sideline and my coach came up to me, very upset, and shouted, "What's wrong with you? What's wrong with you?" I told him, "It's my ankle." But he knew that. It was well-documented and we had discussed it. He then ordered me to get on the field. I said, "Coach, I can't." He didn't call for medical attention. Instead, he shouted at me, "YOU'RE DONE!" while he ran his finger across his throat. Coach was telling me that if I didn't play hurt, then I was done for the Bucs.
I didn't quit. I was cut. I didn't walk away from my brothers. I was thrown out.
Brown goes on to mention Arians' claim that he did not know anything about the ankle injury. On Monday, Arians said that he "didn't know that he (Brown) was [injured]" before he left and that Brown simply "left the field and that was it" following a sideline conversation they had. The Bucs coach also suggested he wouldn't force someone to play through an injury (via Jenna Laine of ESPN).
Instead, Brown insists that Arians did know about the injury and that they "exchanged texts days before the game where he (Arians) clearly acknowledged the injury." These texts were not shown as part of the statement.
Further into the lengthy statement, Brown says that the Buccaneers have attempted to promote "a totally false narrative that I randomly acted out without any explanation" and that they're now "demanding" that Brown sees a doctor of their choice to get his ankle looked at. However, the wideout claims he had an MRI taken of his ankle without the team knowing on Monday, which backs up Stroud's report, showing broken bone fragments in his ankle, a ligament tear and cartilage loss. He also added that "two top orthopedic surgeons" have examined the MRI.
The full statement can be seen here, via ESPN's Adam Schefter.
Burstyn also sent out a lengthy thread of tweets shortly before the statement was released, much of which carried a similar message and criticized those who were skeptical of the validity of Brown's injury.
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