After being bombarded by statements from Antonio Brown and his lawyer Sean Burstyn on Wednesday, the Bucs finally responded. On Thursday afternoon, the team announced they were releasing Brown. The former All-Pro exploded on the sideline Sunday, ripping off his equipment and exiting the field. The incident prompted Bucs head coach Bruce Arians to declare Brown was “no longer a Buc” after the game.

On Wednesday, Brown issued a statement that the Bucs attempted to force him to play despite serious injury. The statement accused other things, including a throat-slashing gesture by Arians that enraged Brown. On Thursday, Arians told his side of the story. Unsurprisingly, things went a little different.

“Obviously, we let Antonio go today,” Arians said. “Just to clear you up on some things that happened. At no point in time during that game did he ever ask a trainer or a doctor about his ankle. He never went up to them. That’s the normal protocol. You go through protocols during games. I was never notified of it.

“So that was the disturbing thing when we were looking for him to go back into the game. He was very upset at halftime about who was getting targeted. We got that calmed down. Players took care of that. But it started again on the sideline. We called for the personnel group that he had played in the entire game. He refused to go in the game.

“That’s when I looked back. and saw him basically wave off the coach. I then went back and approached him about what was going on. (He said) ‘I ain’t playin’. ‘What’s going on?’. ‘I ain’t getting the ball’. That’s when I said, ‘You’re done. Get the ‘F’ out of here’. And that’s the end of it.”

Arians Story Contradicts Brown’s Account

Arians story obviously differs greatly from Brown’s, who never mentioned targets as an issue. However, Brown shared a post from rapper Kodak Black on his Instagram story that suggests different. Kodak Black posted that the Bucs were trying to not play Brown so he wouldn’t get his bonuses. Brown sharing the post suggests he agrees with it.

Arians also addressed the throat-slashing gesture.

“I don’t know,” Arians said, laughing. “Is that a throat slash?” Arians pointed as if gesturing for Brown to get off the sideline. “That’s all it was.”

As for Brown saying the Bucs pressured him to play, Arians disagreed strongly.

“You can’t force a player to play,” Arians said. “You can’t force a player to play. They have that choice. It’s their body. And he decided to play. He and [Mike Evans] both were on pitch counts. We were trying to manage that as best we could in the first half.”

Text Message Reveal Backfires On Brown

In his statement last night, Brown said he had texts from Arians proving that the coach knew he was seriously injured and pushed him to play anyway. But when Brown revealed the texts on Thursday morning, they showed normal communication between coach and player.

“You saw the texts,” Arians said. “I mean, it was out there. It was, ‘If you can go on Saturday I want you with the team, in case you can [play]’. Then he participated in Saturday walk-through like he was [playing]. So there was never another question about it.”

Earlier in the week, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported that the relationship with Brown began souring when he returned from this 3-game suspension. However, Arians disagrees.

“No, I never got that feeling,” Arians said when asked if Brown was upset after returning. “I saw him here in the building and told him he was not going to be released. And that we were going to stand by him. Everything was good. Everything was great until the third quarter.”

As for the incident being a distraction amongst the team, Arians isn’t worried.

“Our team is great,” Arians said. “Our team knows the truth. They know what happened. Our guys are fine. They’re ready to play Carolina.”