Bucs wide receiver Antonio Brown has released a statement through his lawyer, Sean Burstyn. The statement addresses the situation that occurred during Sunday’s game against the Jets. In the third quarter, Brown removed his jersey and equipment in anger on the sideline, tossing them aside and running off the field. On Wednesday night, Brown released a statement explaining his side of the incident.

I won’t paraphrase too much of the statement, but Brown accuses head coach Bruce Arians of putting undue pressure on him to play despite knowledge of his ankle injury. The All-Pro receiver claims that he had intense pain during the game against the Jets and took a seat. Arians angrily approached him and the altercation began.

Perhaps the most surprising accusation by Brown is that he accused Arians of saying, “You’re done!”, and running a finger over his own throat, gesturing to Brown. On Monday, Arians denied that Brown ever mentioned an in-game injury to him on the sideline. In his statement, Brown claims that GM Jason Licht acknowledged in text messages to Brown’s camp that the receiver had communicated an injury to Arians during the game. Those text messages have not been revealed at this time.

It’s also clear that Brown believes the Bucs have mischaracterized his outburst as a “mental health issue”. Brown reveals he had an independent MRI done on his ankle, which determined significant enough damage to need surgery. He describes that as the issue which led to the incident, not anything related to his mental health.

Burstyn also released this tweet thread:

I would expect the Buccaneers to respond soon with a statement of their own.