Details are in on Antonio Brown‘s contract with the Buccaneers. His one-year pact will be worth up to $2.5MM, but only $1MM of that is in the form of base salary and roster bonuses. If Tampa wins the Super Bowl, AB will receive a $750K bonus, and he has three separate $250K bonuses for receptions, yards, and TD milestones. However, not only does Brown need to hit those individual marks to cash in, the Bucs need to qualify for the playoffs (Twitter links via Adam Schefter of ESPN.com).
Schefter adds (via Twitter) that Brown will officially sign the contract tomorrow. As Greg Auman of The Athletic tweets, the 32-year-old receiver will be able to enter the team facility Wednesday, after he has cleared COVID-19 testing. Although his eight-game suspension means that he will not be permitted to practice until November 3, the start of Week 9, Brown can attend meetings and train with the team’s strength and conditioning staff.
Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports reiterates that Tom Brady was the driving force behind the Brown signing. Brady, of course, pushed for the Patriots to acquire Brown last year, and though New England released AB after just one game, Brady again lobbied the team to re-sign him in advance of the playoffs.
Bucs head coach Bruce Arians — who is familiar with Brown from their time together in Pittsburgh — had repeatedly stated that Tampa would not be acquiring the mercurial All-Pro, and he wasn’t the only team official to express those sentiments. Brady eventually got his way, though plenty are skeptical that Brown will be able to toe the line.
“Mark my words, it’s going to be a problem,” said one executive who has significant experience with Brown. “You have no idea the stories we could tell you about this guy. Everything is a struggle. … There were plenty of valid reasons why [Arians] didn’t want anything to do with him a year ago. Unless this guy has completely reinvented himself, and done a complete turnaround, this is going to get ugly.”
A coach who has worked with Brown said, “All the reasons [Arians] didn’t want this guy a year ago, he knows what’s up with him. And that was before COVID. The stuff he’d do all the time in Pittsburgh — he’d go AWOL, not show up, have no idea where he is … that could (mess up) the entire team, now.”
It does seem like a big gamble for a team that has plenty of receiving talent already, though since the Bucs’ cadre of pass catchers has dealt with a number of injuries this year, it’s easy to see why the club would have interest in reinforcing that group. But from a legal perspective, Brown is not out of the woods just yet. As Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reminds us, the civil suit that Britney Taylor filed against Brown for sexual assault and rape is set for December, and Brown is due to furnish Taylor’s attorney with complete discovery next week (Brown has received multiple extensions of the discovery deadline).
Developments in that case may trigger additional sanctions from the league, though Brown’s attorneys could request a postponement of an trial in an effort to avoid such sanctions impacting his availability for the Bucs this year.
TB the GM whiffed on Gronk. He’ll miss w/ AB as well.
Did he? I thought Gronk looked rather effective last week against GB.
17 rec for 218 yards & 1 TD isn’t great for 6-7 weeks into the season.
Absolutely shocking that a guy that came out of retirement and is in a new system didn’t start hot out of the gate.
Your takes are just terrible man.
With that logic, all FA signing w/ new teams shouldn’t expect to be good? But it does prove my point; AB will be awful using your ‘take man’.
Um, yes? AB may be rusty for a few games. Why is that so shocking exactly? But no, I don’t expect him to take as long to get up to speed. He has stayed in football shape. Gronk lost 20lbs and had no plans of returning. Big difference.
Gronk is a shell of his former self. He looks slow and old after a year of rest, and he wasn’t fast to begin with. And to clarify, he’s not in a new system, Brady’s running the same system with some of Arian’s input. Gronk is running the same routes he’s run for years.
That is a lazy assumption and actually 100% false. He is running BA’s offense. Watch a game. Read an article. Try again.
5 catches for 78 yards and a TD last week. 5 catches for 62 yards and a TD so far today. Pretty safe to say they didn’t ‘whiff’ on Gronk.
Gronk now has 280 yards through 7 weeks. Monster stats there.
Do you not know that he was retired last season and that there were no preseason games this season? Did you expect him to be his old self with no rust immediately? He’s lit it up the last two weeks (10 catches, 140 yards, 2 TD) now that he’s back into the swing of things (last five games: 22 catches, 269 yards, 2 TD, which is a pace of 70 catches, 860 yards, 6 TD over 16 games).
Keep clinging to your erroneous assertion, though. I’m sure the Bucs, now 5-2, are plenty happy they signed Gronk.
This comment didn’t age well, LOL !!!
Does this anonymous exec work out of Las Vegas or Pittsburgh?
“one executive who has SIGNIFICANT experience with Brown.” now where did brown work significantly?
“Brown can attend meetings and train with the team’s strength and conditioning staff.”
Do the Bucs have a psychologist on staff that would be brave enough to look inside ABs head?
Attorney: “I’d like to request a postponement of Mr. Brown’s trial.”
Judge: “Do you have further evidence of his innocence?”
Attorney: “No, your honor. I just want to make sure *I* get paid.”
I really don’t want to see this work out, but I think it will. Just like I think it would have last year in NE if the off field stuff hadn’t come to light.
AB needs this. He wants to play with Brady. He’s already shown he can behave himself if he actually wants to. And though he’s selfish & immature I really fo think he wants to win.
Hope I’m wrong!
I think he will be quiet and compliant while that bank account is low / empty.
If he happens to gets all the grievance money during the season, it will be old AB. What is that like 30M or so?
Exactly. As soon as he gets paid or a multi-year deal I expect another trip off the deep end. Especially if he somehow manages to get a ring this year.
I actually agree here. Brown isn’t the only one who knows what’s on the line-Brady, Licht, and even Arians have an incentive to make this work. None of those guys, Brady excepted, have rings (and Brady is eager to win one “on his own” outside of New England) and regard this as their best chance.
Brown I think will behave until he feels that he has proven that he is back on top, which be after a SB win.
Bingo. Though BA has 2 rings with the Steelers, I think he really wants one as a HC. And I know Brady wants one without BB.
100% agree on AB. That’s exactly how I think it plays out.
You are correct, I misstated my point. As a HC, Ariana would like to win a ring. Thanks for the correction.
One can only hope he’s turned his life around. I have to agree once the money comes back, that typically sets the pride back in motion. I know from experience, well not with the money he makes but in general.
Clearly the Buccaneers are okay enabling this POS
Brown proved that as long as he gets enough touches, he’s fine. But wait until a couple games go by and he feels he’s not getting the ball enough. Win or lose, the problems will begin. The Steelers did a nice job of keeping this all out of the public’s view for years. Big mistake for TB
Just trade Mike Evans already!