Unceremoniously cut by the Buccaneers after removing his uniform and leaving an in-progress game in New Jersey against the Jets for reasons that remain up for debate, Antonio Brown will be rooting for Tom Brady and the rest of his former teammates when Tampa Bay hosts the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday in the first round of the playoffs.
The super-talented wideout, who totaled 87 receptions for 1,028 yards and eight touchdowns in 15 games with the Bucs spread across two seasons and did help the team win the Super Bowl, has a financial interest in Tampa Bay making a deep playoff run and repeating as champs. Brown will get $215,000 because of the way money gets allocated during the postseason if the Buccaneers repeat as Super Bowl champions, according to CBS.
Even though he isn’t on Tampa’s 53-man roster, Brown still qualifies for a playoff bonus because he spent at least eight games on the roster during the season and is not under contract to another team in the same conference.
The maximum a player can make from this season’s playoffs is $300,000, but $215,000 is the most that Brown or anyone that will actually play for the Bucs can make due to where the team finished in the standings. “Players are paid much differently in the playoffs than during the regular season,” CBS explains. “A majority of players take a hefty pay cut in the playoffs because their salaries have no bearing on what they make during the postseason. Playoff money comes from a league pool instead of from NFL teams. There is a specific amount for each playoff round where each eligible player gets paid the same.”
Brown, who went unclaimed on waivers and is set to enter the offseason as a free agent who happens to have the 21st-most catches in NFL history and at least as many off-field issues and red flags, would use the cash as his early exit against the Jets made it impossible for him to earn three performance bonuses (receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns) that would have paid out $333,333 each.
Had the 33-year-old wanted the cash, Brown would’ve been wise to follow an age-old piece of advice and kept his shirt on.
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