NFL Rumors: Buccaneers reportedly looking to cut Antonio Brown
"He screws up one time, he's gone."
These are the words spewed by Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians when Antonio Brown was signed to the team last year. At the time, everyone was well aware of the baggage that came with having the five-time All-Pro receiver on your roster.
These words from Arians resurfaced last week after Brown was suspended for what the league termed a "misrepresentation of his vaccination status." Cornerback Mike Edwards was also suspended for the same reason, but he did not arrive in Tampa with the same gusto that Brown did.
#Bucs WR Antonio Brown and Mike Edwards have each been suspended without pay for the next three games for misrepresenting their vaccination status under the NFL-NFLPA COVID-19 Protocol. They have accepted the discipline and waived their right of appeal.
Now, there are reports that the Buccaneers may possibly be looking to cut ties with Brown altogether.
NFL Rumors: Antonio Brown may possibly be cut by Buccaneers
According to Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are considering cutting ties with their eccentric wide receiver. Of course, if the team does decide to go down this avenue, it must be done strategically.
Brown and Edwards are in the midst of a three-game suspension, and the earliest that they can return is after the Week 15 game against their division rival, the New Orleans Saints. If the Buccaneers cut Brown too early, he has the chance to pass through the waiver list, become a free agent, and land with another team.
Antonio Brown would then have more than enough time to get up-to-speed with the team's playbook and be ready for Week 16.
That's not what the Buccaneers want to do. Brown would then have the potential to land with a conference rival and, perhaps, meet the Bucs in the playoffs.
Antonio Brown may be a malcontent, but one thing he has never been accused of is not being a student of the game. He has the ability to provide information to rival teams on the nuances of Tom Brady as he does have quite the rapport with the seven-time Super Bowl champion.
So how will the Buccaneers handle this dilemma? That all depends on Bruce Arians.
It's not a stretch to say that Brown put Arians in a precarious position twice by first giving him a warning coming to the team and, secondly, by Arians (just last week) stating that he saw no reason for this to even be a story.
What Arians did not know, at the time, was that Brown had, indeed, provided a fake vaccination card. Arians was simply confident in his organization, as they came out before the season to announce that the entire team (100%) was vaccinated.
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