Antonio Brown Claims Bucs Offered Him $200,000 To See A Shrink
January 25th, 2022
Interviewed.
In a virtual sitdown along with his agent, former Bucs receiver Antonio Brown made wild claims about his former employers.
In a preview of an episode of “Real Sports” seen on HBO, Brown tells host Bryant Gumbel that he was often shot up with a very strong drug (Toradol) in order to take the field. The drug was so strong, Brown claims, he didn’t realize the damage he was doing to his ankle.
(Column Intermission: Painkillers do not prevent the body from breaking down. If Brown’s ankle was this bad, Joe has to ask, how could he walk much less run and cut full-speed? Or do jumping jacks while topless?)
Brown stated emphatically that the Bucs — in writing — offered him $200,000 to go see a shrink. “Go to the crazy house,” is how Brown put it. Brown’s representative also said “the general manager,” in writing, offered that Brown was not to try to spin the cash offer in public as anything more than assistance to seek counseling.
When Gumbel asked Brown, in so many words, why everywhere he goes coaches and players suggest he needs help, Brown said he doesn’t expect anyone other than his family to understand him. Brown’s agent claimed it was an insult to crazy people to call Brown crazy. (Insert your own punchline there,)
You can view the full excerpt of Brown’s interview in the HBO video below.
(Hat tip: @MattSinn.)
January 25th, 2022 at 3:16 pm
I was surprised AB made it as long as he did with the Bucs.
He is truly a psychopath.
January 25th, 2022 at 3:18 pm
F’n crybaby!
He be either in the Florida DOC
or the county morgue somewhere.
Help …help???
You have to admit that you have a problem first and AB is still doing his thing.
Sad
but
Clear as a bell for everyone else to see.
January 25th, 2022 at 3:26 pm
He’s on some major meds in this video….
and who would not take the 200k and see a shrink???
I mean, you know he has a shrink to get the meds he is on now. He just did not want the bucs to have him see their shrink.
January 25th, 2022 at 3:28 pm
and I don’t think ANYONE is looking up to him right now.
LOL his chef and IG skank are smarter than him.
January 25th, 2022 at 3:30 pm
It’s not too see a shrink. It was to be involuntarily committed to a mental hospital until they see fit.
January 25th, 2022 at 3:30 pm
It’s not enough. It will take years with a team of psychiatrists and an extended stay at a nut house.
January 25th, 2022 at 3:30 pm
Funny how AB rejects the notion that he was upset at halftime, yet he made comments on the 1st podcast how Gronk was getting targets because he’s “Brady’s boy”. We all know that he’s full of crap, he has ZERO credibility and is going on a save face tour to line up his next contract…I mean meltdown!
January 25th, 2022 at 3:32 pm
Yet again more accusations without receipts. Even if it is true it just proves that Antonio Clown has been offered help time and again and refuses it. Morons out there that claim he has CTE and that he shouldn’t be held accountable for his clown actions as a grown man can shut up now. Brown himself has said that he was offered help and refused it.
January 25th, 2022 at 3:32 pm
AB is a “habitual line stepper”. Either CTE and/or selfish really does not matter, he is a quitter.
January 25th, 2022 at 3:33 pm
Can we stop giving this clown anymore time geezus move on he ain’t a buc anymore just move on
January 25th, 2022 at 3:34 pm
Well, there’s your proof……..offered $200K to see a shrink….and turns it down…
Equals….you are crazy.
January 25th, 2022 at 3:34 pm
I just don’t get why he’s doing this. The more he talks the worse he looks. I guess he’s trying to get an injury settlement? He’s done in the league. I’d imagine, he’s close to broke as well. People say mental health, which is silly, he’s just a selfish, self absorbed a hole.
January 25th, 2022 at 3:35 pm
It wasn’t enough!
January 25th, 2022 at 3:39 pm
Last I heard, he wants to go play with Lamar Jackson. Can you see John Harbaugh putting up with his shat?? Doubt it. Who in their right mind would bring him on a team?
January 25th, 2022 at 3:40 pm
A true Baker Act candidate
January 25th, 2022 at 3:41 pm
I’m calling bs on this. Like Robert said, he looks like he’s on something for sure. He looks a bit spacey. If Tom Brady is “your guy” why the eff would you blast him all over the place. Literally the man went scorched earth on anyone associated with the Bucs. He failed to mention that he was off for how long dealing with said ankle injury. There’s no way I can see anyone in the organization forcing any player to play injured.
January 25th, 2022 at 3:42 pm
We should have never signed this clown. He is just N idiot trying to get one last final payday. No team is going to touch this guy ever again.
January 25th, 2022 at 3:42 pm
The dude just needs to take a long walk off a short pier already. Such a waste.
January 25th, 2022 at 3:43 pm
It’s a smart organization that incentivizes a highly valued but very difficult and disturbed employee to accept psychiatric treatment. Kudos to the Bucs for creative management.
January 25th, 2022 at 3:43 pm
He show no loyalty to a franchise to a coach, to TB12, to teammates and fans that supported him, even giving him a second chance after the fake card..
We can talk about counceling, shrinks , but the bottom line is those are all excuses, he is just a bad human being, no more no less….Just take a look on what he did in the last 10 years, like a player and on his personal life, no excuses…..
But there is so much hipocresy around this country lately, that I wouldn´t be surprised if another team picks him up, just because he is a great player….. I really hope it just doesn´t happen…..
January 25th, 2022 at 3:45 pm
Wasnt 200,000 his incentives he wanted guaranteed?
Sounds like bucs got creative to keep happy?
January 25th, 2022 at 3:48 pm
The dude will be dead in a few years. He deserves his fate. Idiot. Waste a gift, act entitled.
January 25th, 2022 at 3:48 pm
As long as he doesn’t kneel for the Anthem…..he’ll be picked up…..and he’ll screw up again…..
I truly believe AB was a net plus for the Bucs……and that’s a small miracle.
January 25th, 2022 at 3:57 pm
I think Greg Schiano has a side hustle mentoring troublesome athletes
January 25th, 2022 at 4:05 pm
Manipulative people will always be the victim……always! Regardless of the obvious pattern – Steelers – Raiders – Patriots – Bucs…..always someone else even though countless other players and even super stars functioned fine in those same places.
Unfortunately, it’s his identity….too make the realization that he is the problem would unravel his entire perspective/ego. Its not going to happen. Brown has and likely continues to get away with this approach/behavior because somebody will cater to him for his talents. I firmly believe this has been going on since his grade school days….this is normal to him. He can be another team’s problem.
January 25th, 2022 at 4:07 pm
Tampabaybucfan Says:
January 25th, 2022 at 3:48 pm
As long as he doesn’t kneel for the Anthem…..he’ll be picked up…..and he’ll screw up again…..
I truly believe AB was a net plus for the Bucs……and that’s a small miracle.
Kneeling for the anthem so bad it’s against American smh. Storms capital nothing to see here where we love the country where Patriots smh. The double standards in this country are ridiculous!
January 25th, 2022 at 4:09 pm
So sad. The guy is clearly not in a good mindset in this video and completely looks out of it. Can’t believe news networks give him the time of day.
January 25th, 2022 at 4:10 pm
A very sad story. Credit to Brady and the Bucs for trying to get this super talented player the help he so badly needed. Hope he gets it yet before the story gets more tragic.
January 25th, 2022 at 4:10 pm
Please Joe, let him go. We have a whole offseason of uncertainty. So many questions to be answered, let’s talk about the Bucs, and our players. AB isn’t a Buc, we hear enough about him as it is, no more here please. By the way, didn’t read the article. Saw AB and just wanted to say who cares what he has to say
January 25th, 2022 at 4:40 pm
Ankle was so bad he didn’t even get it fixed yet. Just going to basketball games. Rapping n doing interviews 🤡
January 25th, 2022 at 4:52 pm
The sooner everyone stops talking about him he will go away. His career is over and he is irrelevant. Let 5 years pass and I won’t be shocked to read an article about how he’s broke and is homeless
January 25th, 2022 at 5:03 pm
I don’t get why all aberrant behavior is being attributed to “mental illness.”
It is possible that a person is just an a__h-le.
Seriously. Is that so far fetched?
January 25th, 2022 at 5:09 pm
I’m not watching the video, I just want him to go away. He’s persona non grata at this point. He can just FOAD.
January 25th, 2022 at 5:26 pm
If Brown’s ankle was this bad, Joe has to ask, how could he walk much less run and cut full-speed? Or do jumping jacks while topless?
===========
Joe, I like you, I agree on many things – but this is the dumbest argument in the world. It’s called adrenaline. Bash the guy for being a nut, I’m fine with that, but the idea that he did some jumping jacks when he’s in full meltdown mode proves he wasn’t hurt, that’s just nonsense.
January 25th, 2022 at 5:35 pm
Seems like the kinda guy that will show up at Brady’s house and murder his entire family just so he wont be forgotten.
Either way, Brady is likely to get the Kobe treatment once he retires.
January 25th, 2022 at 6:07 pm
He’s a fruit loop
January 25th, 2022 at 6:12 pm
CTE is real.
January 25th, 2022 at 6:29 pm
Why is anyone still humoring this train wreck of a man? He has been given more opportunities than most in life and continues to make the worst of each of them. Go away AB, you are a sad reflection of the sport and on the sport.
January 25th, 2022 at 6:29 pm
He’s nuts.
January 25th, 2022 at 6:29 pm
The entire story is still stupid, when you put together what Arians said, what AB said, what a 3rd party on the sideline said, I’m still absolutely convinced the entire thing was on Arians not hearing what AB said correctly.
Here’s what we know from Arians…
Arians said that AB was fine when he came back from the suspension, he wasn’t acting up, nothing was out of the ordinary. Completely blows out of the water the fake news reports that he was acting out when he came back.
Arians said that AB had a blow-up at half-time of the Jets game, but it was handled by the players, and he wasn’t involved. Completely blows out of the water all the fake news reports saying him and AB got into at halftime of the game and had to be seperated, or whatever the nonsense was.
We know, going into the game, AB had been on the injury report with an ankle issue.
Then we get to the incident.
So to this point, everything we’ve heard is all on the same page. After we get past this next part of the story, everything we hear is on the same page. It’s only the actual sideline event that is at all disputed…
We know from Arians, that he saw AB wasn’t in the game, he went over to him and told him to get into the game…
Brown at that point, according to Brown and another person on the sidelines (according to Greg Auman) that Brown told Arians his ankle was hurt, and he couldn’t go back in (something along those lines).
According to Arians, when he told Brown to go back into the game, Brown waved him off, which in turn triggered Arians who thought he was being dismissive of being told to go back into the game. Arians, according to his own account, then told Brown he was done, he’s out, he’s basically fired.
Everything after that point isn’t really in any dispute. AB being a complete nutjob doesn’t bother to say, wait, what, did you not hear me… He just goes off the deep in, like a nutjob would. In AB’s mind, he’s just told a coach that he was injured, and the coach said, go into the game anyways, if not, you’re fired. I can see how AB would be mad, but a normal human being would want to actually follow-up and figure out why Arians had that response. At the same time, Arians flew off the handle, and instead of blowing up, should have taken an extra second to ask again why AB wasn’t going to go into the game.
Literally the entire story seems like Arians did not hear Brown say he was injured, which is what Arains has said publicly, that he didn’t hear him say that. The damning part of the story is the other person on the sideline who says Brown DID tell Arians he was injured.
That stupid back and forth very much could have cost the Bucs the SB. AB was Brady’s favorite target, and to lose him, when you already had no depth, was huge.
If Brady doesn’t come back, I personally believe the way Arians handled this will be a large part of why. Brown acted out enough that it lets Arians off the hook for his blowup, but they both added stupidly.
January 25th, 2022 at 6:30 pm
Bye. Next
January 25th, 2022 at 6:31 pm
About 60% of all NBA players go bankrupt within 5 years of retirement. Bear in mind that most of them made more money prior to retirement than AB, and as a whole, they are far saner than Antonio Brown.
In 5 years AB is going to be living under a bridge somewhere, baying at the moon each night.
January 25th, 2022 at 6:34 pm
Rod Munch
Hate to tell you but going into this game his ankle was not in question as he was coming off a multiple game suspension.
Just saying, it totally blows your theory out of the water from that point forward.
January 25th, 2022 at 6:53 pm
AB is just an A-Hole.
Simple as that
January 25th, 2022 at 6:59 pm
This doesnt look like a interview. More closely resembles a child/parent conference with a principal, and mommy has to do all the talking and explaining.
January 25th, 2022 at 7:22 pm
It’s probably true because this idiot is always turning down money for someone wanting a big payday hell yes he needs help
January 25th, 2022 at 7:27 pm
There’s nothing wrong with AB mentally. He said so himself
January 25th, 2022 at 7:32 pm
@Rod. Come on man. I banter with you on gamedays. I know you are football savvy and intelligent. You can’t possibly believe your own nonsense with AB right? AB is delusional. I’m not even saying it is necessarily his fault. AB doesn’t have CTE said no-one ever. Poor dude resides on Cloud 9.
AB is on his 35th NFL life. Bruce has never found himself in hot water. I’m going with the coach that all players seem to respect and admire.
January 25th, 2022 at 7:39 pm
If Brady retires all will be ok. All I need is my guitar, Hey!
January 25th, 2022 at 7:49 pm
When can we begin to ignore the man that quite on us?
January 25th, 2022 at 8:32 pm
He will be playing for the Rams next year.
January 25th, 2022 at 9:09 pm
I’m really not into the whole skip and Shannon yell show. Yet Shannon has been calling Ant b. Dumb Dumb I find that a very very fitting nick name.
January 25th, 2022 at 9:40 pm
Let him talk. 10 years from now all anybody will remember him for will be all this nonsense that he got himself into. They won’t remember that he was the best reciever in football for the better part of half a decade.
When his name is on that HOF ballot in a few years, and year after year he gets passed over, maybe then he will realize how big of a moron he was. Probably not though. He’ll still be blaming it on the Bucs for wanting him to go out and do his job.
January 25th, 2022 at 10:51 pm
This dude is not on the team. Next story.
January 25th, 2022 at 11:06 pm
This is BS. Let’s not keep having AB stories on JBF.
And by the way, unless there was evidence that team doctors hid the seriousness of his injury from him, he has no reasonable claim. Players have a choice whether they can play on an injury and nobody is gonna get shot up with Toradol against their will. This is crap.
January 25th, 2022 at 11:20 pm
Can’t wait until his 15 minutes are up. Between this and the texts, nothing he’s released has made the Bucs look bad. His lawyer should lose his license for this grift
January 25th, 2022 at 11:30 pm
who is AB? soon enough this fool will be a nobody
January 25th, 2022 at 11:37 pm
usually I read Rod Munch but too much, made it through a few lines–get the gist. Who cares–he quit–he never would of made it to the divisional game–his ankle/bone spur/torn ligament would of imploded. he is over the hill and is not worth sht going forward. He is desperate for drama/spotlight it will be a sad ending to his career. Move on and look to the draft/FA–hope we do some serious shopping!
January 25th, 2022 at 11:43 pm
RIP
January 26th, 2022 at 12:17 am
LMAO. Thats the best offer AB will ever get to save his sanity. If, its true.
Most rationale people would have jumped all over that offer. Now, he’s just gonna be stupid for life. Just goes to show you, when you throw some people a life rope, they chew thru it and continue their descent.
January 26th, 2022 at 1:55 am
BAsed on the pinpoint pupils and the overall way he’s carrying himself, I agree with the theory that he is high as a kite in this interview.
January 26th, 2022 at 2:02 am
cmurda – most of what I wrote comes from Arians, the only part of the story that isn’t from Arians own mouth is what exactly was said on the sidelines.
Arians, himself, said everything was fine – the only issue was at half-time and he said he doesn’t even know what it was about. If you believe Arians, and I have no reason not to, up until he told him to get into the game, there wasn’t any major issues.
Also AB says the same thing, including the PM’s he posted on social media saying both of them were on the same page before his happened, there wasn’t any issues.
The entire thing seems to boil down to whatever was said on the sideline. According to both parties, there wasn’t any big issues before that moment.
Put yourself in that situation, if you’re AB, if you’re hurt and a coach says get in there and play anyways, you say you can’t go, and then he says, basically, you’re fired. You don’t think that would make you go nuts, if you’re already nuts?
Then from Arians side, if he tells a guy to go into the game, and doesn’t hear what was said — and again, reporting says Brown DID tell Arians he was hurt — thinks he’s being blown off by a player who is refusing to do what he’s told, in a game where you’re losing, and then Arians flys off the handle. Remember, Arians is from the Ray Perkins school, no one was talking back to Perkins, if they did, they were getting cut on the spot. That’s what Arians did.
The issue is, I believe, Arians just literally didn’t hear about any ankle. If he did, and he told Brown to play anyways, then he’s not the good guy in the story, and I don’t think he’s a bad guy, which is why I believe him when he says he didn’t know anything about a new injury.
January 26th, 2022 at 2:04 am
firethecannons – it was long, agreed, but it needs a setup for what i was saying to make any sense. I’m not sure what you can cut out and still leave the story in tact as I’m trying to show how both sides screwed up, in my opinion.
January 26th, 2022 at 7:05 am
Arians disliked AB, lost his temper and impulsively cut him during a game; next he loses his temper and hits a player, which just got Jimmy Lake fired. He let JPP play injured over JTS so we have no pass rush; and he didn’t convince Bowles not to blitz Stafford. He’s no bargain as a nonexecutive coach, but I sure don’t trust him calling plays.
January 26th, 2022 at 11:42 am
Arians disliked AB? Arians likes anybody who is going to help us win. What you been smokin?
January 26th, 2022 at 11:53 am
“People all over the world look up to me”
Bahahahahaha – Delusional much AB?
January 26th, 2022 at 11:57 am
Multiple players reported about Brown’s meltdown at half time and said it was regarding lack of targets…..
So he’s just gonna straight up lie and say it didn’t happen? Bad plan dude.
January 26th, 2022 at 12:05 pm
A Farmer walked through his field one cold winter morning. On the ground lay a Snake, stiff and frozen with the cold. The Farmer knew how deadly the Snake could be, and yet he picked it up and put it in his bosom to warm it back to life.
The Snake soon revived, and when it had enough strength, bit the man who had been so kind to it. The bite was deadly and the Farmer felt that he must die. As he drew his last breath, he said to those standing around, “Learn from my fate not to take pity on a scoundrel”.