Antonio Brown’s Latest Outburst Shows How He And Jimmy Butler Have Diverged In Stardom

Antonio Brown blames Tom Brady for his NFL exit.

Former NFL star wide receiver Antonio Brown is back in headlines for the wrong reasons. 

His latest aim was at former Tampa Bay Buccaneers teammate Tom Brady and head coach Bruce Arians. On Tyreek Hill’s “It Needed to Be Said” podcast, Brown details his infamous walk-off during a 2021 game against the New York Jets.

“We about to play the Jets and I’m already hurt,” Brown said. “So I took pictures to send to the coach and told him, ‘If we’re going to win the Super Bowl, I’m gonna need these last two weeks to recover so I can give you my best when we go to win the Super Bowl.’ But the coach called me saying that I wasn’t resting.”

He said his reason for playing anyway was Brady promising to involve him more offensively. When this didn’t happen, Brown made his controversial exit.

Jimmy Butler, a longtime friend of Brown, was once thought of as a locker room cancer too. However, he has largely changed that narrative since arriving with the Miami Heat. Butler has transcended into one of the league’s players with Hall of Fame talks around his name. Meanwhile, conversations around Brown have diverged from a seemingly guaranteed Hall of Fame induction. Brown once rivaled the greatest wide receivers of all time but years of drama led to the downfall of his career.

Many feel Brown’s words about Brady were disrespectful, given the amount the NFL legend did to defend and provide for him. Butler, on the other hand, has nothing but gratitude for his situation. At the end of the 2023 Finals, Butler said he was “grateful to compete” with his Heat teammates.

Jayden Armant is a contributor to Inside the Heat. He is a student at Howard University. He can be reached at jaydenshome14@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @jaydenarmant.