Antonio Brown produced one of the NFL‘s most outrageous moments in 2022 when he stripped off his uniform and waved goodbye to MetLife Stadium late in the third quarter of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers-New York Jets Week 17 game.
Video footage from the stands captured Brown melting down on the sidelines and ripping off his shoulder pads as fellow wide receiver Mike Evans tried to calm him down. While Brown eventually took off and retired from the NFL, Evans is still going strong with the Buccaneers and recently spoke about his last-minute conversation with Brown.
Mike Evans on What He Told Antonio Brown
The Buccaneers were the defending Super Bowl champion when Brown quit on them just before the playoffs, and no team would have wanted to be without the veteran receiver in the postseason. Evans also didn’t want to and tried his best to calm Brown down, but it was all in vain.
Brown took off his jersey and undershirt, chucked it, and made the long way down the field, around the end zone, and into the tunnel.
He waved to heckling fans as he went, which would be a fitting final image of Brown’s tumultuous career.
So many questions 🤔#TBvsNYJhttps://t.co/2D6C9bAAIl
— PFSN (@PFN365) January 2, 2022
Speaking during a recent episode of the “Loose Cannons” podcast, Evans shed light on the Brown incident and revealed he was trying to make the receiver realize the impact of his actions.
“Hell yeah, I was trying to stop him. I was trying to win the Super Bowl, and then, yeah, I care about him. I was like, ‘Yo bro, what the f*** are you doing? Don’t take your pads off, you’re going to f*** your money up. I was like, we need you more. I was trying to calm him down, but he took off.”
What did Mike tell @AB84 when he saw him taking those shoulder pads off in New Jersey? 🤣#WeAreTheKrewe #Bucs #NFL pic.twitter.com/Xou7Kanka3
— 𝗦𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗔𝗹𝗶™ 🏴☠️ (@TheSamerAli) February 12, 2025
Earlier, during an interview with Yahoo Sports in 2022, Evans said Brown was trying to get the ball before his dramatic exit.
“What I remember is we were trying to get him to come back in the game,” said Evans. “He was saying he wanted the rock, and I mean rightfully so; we should have got him the rock — I mean, he’s an unbelievable player. Like ‘Yo, come in the game AB.'”
“I don’t want him to go out like this,” Evans added. “Obviously, we need him, so I’m telling him, ‘Big bro, we need you. The season is almost over. If you don’t want to be here, then next year you can leave.’
“I’m telling him, ‘Please don’t go out like this.'”
“I mean it was unfortunate,” said Evans. “I didn’t know that it was going to go down like that. I thought we had a chance to go to the playoffs and probably repeat, and he would have definitely helped us.”
The Buccaneers failed to defend their Super Bowl title and were eliminated by the eventual champions, the Los Angeles Rams, in the Divisional Round.
Meanwhile, Evans, 31, remains at the top of his game but is also aware that his time in the NFL is limited and has begun to lay the groundwork for his post-NFL career ambitions.