Antonio Brown. That guy? Oh, yeah, how’s he doing? The man who became a social media trend in 2021 for angrily throwing his jersey into the stands at MetLife Stadium in a game between the New York Jets and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and who is now under a bevy of legal trouble, has a reputation as one of the most controversial, yet talked about players in the NFL — for all the wrong reasons.
Antonio Brown was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2010 and — under head coach Mike Tomlin and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger — quickly became one of the most talked about players in the league. He led the league in receiving yards twice and was selected for the Pro Bowl seven times, becoming the wide receiver to be envied by all teams across the league.
Nothing black and gold, however, could stay, and the star-studded receiver fell out of love with his team. In 2018, Brown’s relationship with the team and his fellow players began to deteriorate, fueled by a history of missed practices and disputes with his peers. Brown wanted a new contract from the Steelers that he was most likely never going to receive, and keeping him on the team at the time led executives to fear that he would be harmful to the development of young talent such as JuJu Smith-Schuster. He was traded to the Oakland Raiders — now the Las Vegas Raiders — in 2019, but he never ended up actually playing that year.
His time with the Raiders never came to fruition as he was released by the team due to various incidents that occurred before his first game. He then signed with the New England Patriots but was released after just one game following accusations of rape in a federal lawsuit. Then, in June 2020, he pleaded no contest to a felony burglary with battery charge and two additional misdemeanor charges after an incident with a moving truck company. Talks over Super Bowl contention slowly subsided into criminal contention.
But Brown was offered a landline to redemption in October 2020 to experience the pinnacle of what the NFL has to offer. He signed with the Buccaneers and became an integral part of the offense under Tom Brady, helping them win the Super Bowl that season. He re-signed with the team for the next season, but his actions during a late-season game against the New York Jets brought his professional career to an abrupt end. After Brown returned to the bench, head coach Bruce Arians had asked the receiver to go back into the game. Brown — who has since said that his ankle was injured — refused. After stripping his shin pads and jersey, he ran across the sideline and back into the locker room.
Since the incident, Brown has tried many times to reinvent himself as an entrepreneur, an influencer and even a rapper. He recorded songs using the name “AB” with fellow rappers, such as Young Thug, and even performed at Rolling Loud. He was even spotted hanging out with the likes of former professional boxer Floyd Mayweather.
The former star receiver, however, has also become involved in a long string of legal trouble via alleged contract violations, unpaid bills and stolen jewelry. He has filed legal complaints himself against various entities, including a filing of $68 million in damages against Hillsborough County. Most recently, however, an arrest warrant has been issued for attempted second-degree murder. In the month following the warrant, Brown posted videos on social media revealing a new life abroad in Dubai.
With the amount of controversy and criminal history surrounding the former star, one begins to question whether Brown is mentally well. The player was certainly a star in his nine-year tenure on the Steelers, and his performance was consistent and free of the controversy that plagued his later years. Even his three-month tenure in the 2020–21 season on the Buccaneers, although incredibly brief, showed flashes of greatness that mediocre teams would envy from a WR1. NFL players undergo an incredible amount of stress and physical contact, and cases like these make me wonder about the squandered potential from stars who — like Brown — have fallen from grace. If the league truly values its players, maybe the next step is learning how to protect their minds as carefully as their bodies, so that the rise and fall of athletes like Antonio Brown doesn’t become a recurring story.
