By now, many of you have heard the story about former Tampa Bay Buccaneers star Antonio Brown walking off the football field weeks ago during a New York Jets game due to allegedly being forced to play with an injured ankle that will require surgery. The wide receiver left the game during the third quarter, and after his former teammates scored the victory, coach Bruce Arians had one comment about the situation: "He's no longer a Buc."
Being frustrated about the situation, Brown began to take off his jersey, pads, and undershirt, throwing his shirt and gloves into the stands - despite his former teammates Mike Evans and O.J. Howard attempted to calm him down. After removing his gear, he dashed across the end zone while both teams were on the field and waved to fans as he went to the locker room.
In an interview with Fox Sports, Arians stated he tried to persuade Brown to play in the game, to which he refused twice. In disbelief, the coach told the outlet he "Never seen anything like that in all my years."
The Buccaneers released a statement last week about the situation, claiming he was "cleared to play."
"While Antonio did receive treatment on his ankle and was listed on the injury report the week leading up to last Sunday's game, he was cleared to play by our medical team prior to the start of the game and at no point during the game did he indicate to our medical personnel that he could not play," the team shared in the statement."
"We have attempted, multiple times throughout this week, to schedule an evaluation by an outside orthopedic specialist, yet Antonio has not complied. Maintaining the health and wellness of our players is of the utmost importance to our organization."
While we wait to figure out the 33-year-old's next move (besides living his best life at the strip club), it seems like many players and former players are commenting on the situation, most recently former NFL star and current actor on the Starz upcoming drama Power Book IV: Force, Isaac Keys chimed in on the situation during our exclusive interview with him about his role on the series dropping soon.
In the interview, Keys says Brown "went out in strong fashion" and says this is a moment that we will be discussing years to come.
"I don't know everything that went out - a lot of people will speculate but they really don't know," said the Power star.
"I don't know what Antonio Brown is going through so all I can do is hope he's surrounded by a culture and support group to help him be the best person possibly he can be. The reason why he did that? I don't know. How he did it was amazing. He went out in a strong fashion and it reminded me of Jimmy Early on Dreamgirls. We're going to talk about this for years to come as we're talking about it now."
He also gives other football stars advice, for them to "continue to work on yourself and being engaged with your emotions," hoping they will be 100% confident in their reaction to what may occur.
He also shares a shocking moment when he was very fed up with a football organization and gave them a piece of their mind.