Do yinz remember the moment Antonio Brown's NFL career was officially over? Who could forget it? The former Pittsburgh Steelers star was given one last shot with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but in Week 17 of the 2021 season against the New York Jets, AB did something that only AB would do.
After earning just 26 yards on 5 targets, Brown was livid on the sidelines. That's when he decided to make his grand exit. Brown took his Buccaneers jersey off and helped up a peace sign as the shirtless AB jogged across the field and into the locker room one last time.
Antonio Brown has a meltdown at the hand of the #Jets and #BraxtonBerrios pic.twitter.com/RGhSYpyrOu
— Miller (@mmmmillah) January 2, 2022
That was the final straw for everyone around the league. As good as he was, his behavior was completely intolerable at this point and this proved to be his final moment in the league.
Now, over two years later, Brown explains why he took off his shirt... at least, sort of.
Reason I took my shirt off https://t.co/wgflcfbH3S
— AB (@AB84) February 21, 2024
We know from experience over the years that it's hard to decipher anything Brown posts on social media. Recently, AB quote-tweeted himself on 'X' in a tweet that read, "The toughest part of becoming a champion is realizing you have to ruin someone else's dream to achieve yours."
One day later, Brown posted a quote-tweet that read, "Reason I took my shirt off." This is no doubt referring to the time he officially botched his last chance in the league while in Tampa Bay. But nobody is exactly sure what he's talking about... We hardly ever do.
Antonio Brown social media posts are impossible to decipher
Fans have taken a stab as to what this could mean, while some sarcastically responded with a snarky comment like, 'Thanks for clearing that up.'
Perhaps the former Steelers star was referring to not being as involved in the offense as he thinks he deserved to be. Just one game prior to this incident, Brown did catch 10 of 15 passes for 101 yards. Of course, this could be completely unrelated to that moment.
The Pittsburgh Steelers had a Hall of Famer in the making before Brown sabotaged his career following one of the most impressive six-season stretches we have ever seen from an NFL wide receiver. Pittsburgh was eventually forced to trade him to the Raiders for just a third-round pick. He never played a game with them before landing on the Patriots for just one game in 2019, then singing with the Buccaneers in 2020.
We will never know the meaning of every subliminal message that Antonio Brown tries to convey to his followers, but we do know that he will continue to make headlines for a lot of questionable decisions, comments, and social media posts. That certainly isn't ending anytime soon.