Former New England Patriots wideout Antonio Brown elects to retire from the NFL, announcing his decision in a Twitter post early Sunday morning.
The last two months for Brown have spiraled out of control as the receiver has been caught up in sexual misconduct and rape allegations on top of his antics leading to his release from the Oakland Raiders.
During the offseason when Brown forced a trade from Pittsburgh, it was supposed to be a fresh start. A renewal of the mind if you will. Instead, it turned into a non-stop media circus leaving teams no other options but to void a total of $39 million guaranteed money from Brown's contract with both the Raiders and Patriots as well as releasing him.
On his way out, Brown, of course, took shots at the NFL and the NFL Players Association claiming they did nothing to help him during the last two months.
Brown also went on a Twitter rant shortly after his retirement tweet calling out Patriots owner Robert Kraft, FS1's Shannon Sharpe, who had been critical on Brown on a national level, and his former Steelers-teammate Ben Roethlisberger.
The topics of the tweets are in reference to Brown's current investigations but also reminding Sharpe, Roethlisberger, and the world of the two's not so innocent past.
The first tweet following his retirement announcement, Brown took shots at Kraft by stating, "Kraft got caught in the parlor AB speculations fired different strokes different folks clearly." Brown signed with the Patriots on September seventh and was released 11 days later only playing one game in which he caught four passes for 56 yards and a touchdown.
In the second tweet, Brown calls out Sharpe calling him "the funny guy on tv still after this." The tweet shows a 2010 CBS News article telling the story of sexual assault claims brought against Sharpe, which led to a restraining order being filed by the woman and Sharpe leaving CBS Sports.
In his tweet immediately following the one about Sharpe, titled "4 games for Big Ben crazy world I'm down with it", Brown called out the NFL for suspending Roethlisberger only four games for the sexual assault allegations in which the accuser claimed Roethlisberger had raper her.
It is not known whether Brown is only done with the NFL or football entirely as the XFL is scheduled to kick off in 2020.
If Brown's career is cemented, in what looked like a Hall of Fame-career is now tarnished with allegations and misconduct including burning his feet during cryotherapy, two helmet grievances, refusing to practice, threatening to retire, posting fines on Instagram, yelling at Raiders general manager Mike Mayock, and posting his reaction to his release from the Raiders on YouTube.
The Antonio Brown saga may be over for now, but his lasting memory will carry on through the season and the Raiders, Steelers, and Patriots all try to move on from what has been the weirdest and most dumbfounding events in the last decade of professional sports.
Brown finishes his career with 841 receptions (28th), 11,263 yards (34th), 75 touchdowns (34th) placing him near the top in NFL history.
*preview photo credited to the Pittsburgh-Post Gazette
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