Antonio Brown: Officially cut loose

The Buccaneers announced Thursday that Brown's (ankle) contract has been terminated, effective immediately.

Head coach Bruce Arians already told the media following Sunday's 28-24 win over Jets that Brown would be waived after he left the sideline midway through the game and tossed his uniform into the stands, but the Buccaneers waited four days to make the transaction official while discussing the situation with the NFL. In a statement released in conjunction with the transaction, the Buccaneers addressed claims from Brown's attorney alleging that the wideout was upset after he was asked to re-enter Sunday's game despite suffering from "broken bone fragments, ligament torn from the bone and cartilage loss" in his left ankle. The statement indicates that Brown at no point during the game disclosed his injury to the team, and adds that the receiver has refused to meet Tampa Bay's subsequent requests this week to be evaluated by an outside orthopedic specialist. Brown's attorney relayed that the 33-year-old is scheduled to undergo surgery to address the ankle injury, though it's unclear if that's still the plan now that he's been terminated from the team.