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TAMPA BAY
Apparently Stephen Ruiz, the chef stiffed by WR ANTONIO BROWN, knew of what he spoke. ESPN.com:
Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Antonio Brown has been suspended three games for violating the NFL-NFLPA COVID-19 protocols, the league announced Thursday.
The league and players’ union found that Brown was among three players who misrepresented their vaccination statuses. A former personal chef of Brown’s said earlier this month that the wide receiver had obtained a fake COVID-19 vaccination card over the summer.
Also suspended for three games were Buccaneers backup safety Mike Edwards and free-agent wide receiver John Franklin III, whom Tampa Bay waived in August. All three players accepted their discipline and will not appeal, according to the NFL.
Brown’s and Edwards’ suspensions are without pay. Both will be eligible to return to the Buccaneers’ lineup for the team’s Dec. 26 game against the Carolina Panthers. The NFL and NFLPA negotiated the length of the suspension ahead of Thursday’s announcement, sources told ESPN’s Dan Graziano.
All three players are now vaccinated and admitted wrongdoing to the league in the investigative process, a source told ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.
“The NFL-NFLPA jointly reinforce their commitment and further emphasize the importance of strict adherence to the protocols to protect the well-being of everyone associated with the NFL,” the league and players’ union said in a statement.
The league’s investigation found that Brown brought a fake vaccination card with him to training camp, but shortly after he arrived someone told him having one could get him in trouble, so he made the decision to get vaccinated, sources told Graziano.
Brown’s attorney, Sean Burstyn, said in a statement that Brown “continues to support the vaccine for any person for whom it is appropriate.”
“The NFL made its determination and, instead of going through the drawn out and distracting process of challenging the outcome, Mr. Brown wrapped this up promptly and he will make the most of this time by treating his ankle injury,” Burstyn said. “Mr. Brown will be motivated, well rested, and in the best shape of his life when he returns in week 16.”
Brown was not expected to play in the next two games because of an ankle and heel injury that has kept him out since Week 7, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Wednesday.
Chef Steven Ruiz said earlier this month that Brown had his girlfriend, model Cydney Moreau, reach out to him over the summer to obtain a fake vaccination card. After Ruiz was unable to acquire a fake card for Brown, he said that a few weeks later the wide receiver showed him ones he had for himself and Moreau that Brown said he had purchased.
Ruiz told ESPN that Brown had obtained his fake vaccine card from a Buccaneers teammate. Ruiz declined to name the other player.
Burstyn had denied that Brown obtained a fake vaccine card.
Brown said Wednesday when asked about his vaccine card on the Richard Sherman Podcast, “That’s the sad part. The country say, ‘You’re innocent until proven guilty,’ but you’re guilty till you show innocence, because anything someone says, everyone’s already magnifying it, and if you come out and say anything, you just put yourself in deeper holes because now it’s like … I learned to realize criticism is answered with achievement. When people criticize you, there’s no need to respond or worry. …”
A day after Ruiz’s initial allegation, Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians said the team did its “due diligence” in vetting players’ vaccine cards, adding, “I really don’t think it’s a story.”
“We appreciate the League’s timely handling of this matter and recognize the importance of the health and safety protocols that have been established. We will continue to implement all league COVID-19 protocols,” the Buccaneers said in a statement Thursday.
Some 80% of the NFL’s vaccinated players were vaccinated at team facilities, sources told Graziano, meaning there is no question about the authenticity of their vaccination cards. The NFL also found that there has been no difference between the positivity rate among players who were vaccinated at team facilities and those who were vaccinated elsewhere, sources said, which is a reason the league does not fear a rampant fake vaccination card issue.
During the 2020 season, the Buccaneers’ mantra was “beat the virus.” In September, Arians reported that all players and staff members had received the COVID-19 vaccine, becoming the second NFL team to do so.
While Brown did not publicly discuss his vaccination status, Edwards wore a mask when he met with reporters at the beginning of training camp, which is required for players who are unvaccinated. Asked about his vaccination status, Edwards said at the time, “I don’t really want to talk about vaccinations really. It is what it is. I don’t really want to get into that.”
So Brown did not play a single game unvaccinated under false pretenses if Graziano’s sources are correct. And he is losing three game checks.
It’s not enough for some people, including John Romano of the Tampa Bay Times who thinks the incident merits Brown joining Jon Gruden in the ranks of those who cannot be employed:
We now know that Antonio Brown cannot be trusted. This is regrettable, but not surprising.
He has left a trail of transgressions and confrontations that stretch the length of his NFL career, whether you are charting by years, miles or disappointments. The three-game suspension handed down by the league Thursday for lying about his vaccination status is simply the latest confirmation.
The bigger question today is whether we can still have faith in the Buccaneers.
When they chose to get in bed with Brown, they understood they were taking on the burden of his character. And now that he has embarrassed the organization that stuck its neck out to give him yet another chance, there is no way they can continue to keep him on the roster.
That is, unless winning means more than integrity.
There is no doubt the Bucs are a better team with Brown in the huddle. Even at age 33, even with all of the off-field distractions, he remains a cut above the average NFL receiver. If the Bucs want to win back-to-back Super Bowls, their chances are better if Brown is still around in January.
But if the Bucs want us to believe that honor matters, they need to sever their relationship.
Head coach Bruce Arians basically predicted this scenario seven months before the Bucs plucked Brown out of NFL purgatory last year. When asked about Brown on ESPN reporter Adam Schefter’s podcast in the spring of 2020, Arians was clear that he had no interest in taking on the receiver’s oversized luggage.
“There’s too much miscommunication,” Arians said. “Too much … diva.”
Yet the combination of injuries to receivers, and the urging of quarterback Tom Brady, convinced Arians, general manager Jason Licht and the Glazer family to sign Brown at midseason.
Even after reports surfaced that he had destroyed a security camera, cursed out a property manager and threw a bike at a security gate in his south Florida neighborhood just days before signing with the Bucs, the team suggested he was a changed man. And when he settled a civil suit in the spring from a former trainer who accused him of sexually assaulting her, the Bucs quickly re-signed him.
“He’s been a model citizen,” Arians told Sirius Radio in November 2020. “If and when he’s not, we’ll move on. He knows that, our team knows that.”
And now the team knows that he lied about his vaccination status. In fact, they’ve known for quite some time.
Ever since Tampa Bay Times reporter Rick Stroud began looking into the validity of Brown’s vaccination card, the Bucs have danced around the truth. Never directly saying the card was real, but using enough vague language to make it sound as if this was some type of witch hunt.
It is, in some ways, as damning as Brown’s own lies.
And do not pretend that this isn’t a big deal. It’s not about whether Brown had misgivings about COVID vaccinations. Other players in the league have refused the vaccination, but did not try to deceive their teammates and employer with an apparently bogus card.
No, this is the bombshell that everyone anticipated but hoped could be avoided.
Brown has always behaved as if the rules did not apply to him. Team rules? NFL standards? Societal norms? Didn’t matter. As Arians presciently suggested, Brown believed his talents made him a diva.
In retrospect, it’s almost comical that Brown could be so foolish. Two years ago, Sports Illustrated published an investigative report that talked of a half-dozen lawsuits from doctors, trainers, personal assistants and chefs who claimed Brown refused to pay his bills.
And now his career is in jeopardy again because he refused to pay a chef, who exacted his revenge by revealing Brown’s pursuit of a fake vaccination card.
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin once told his team, according to an ESPN.com report, that he would tolerate Brown only as long as his production exceeded his propensity to find trouble. The Raiders and Patriots later came to the same conclusion.
Now, it is Tampa Bay’s turn. There is no gray area, there is no waffling. Now, it is simply a question of grace or greed.
Two weeks ago, the Bucs essentially looked the other way and, because of that, the community is now looking at them.
Shalise Manza Young of YahooSports.com:
And why did these suspensions come about?
In part, it seems, because Brown reportedly stiffed his former live-in chef and the chef told a reporter in Tampa that the vaccine card Brown presented to the Buccaneers was very likely fake, triggering an investigation.
Getting the vaccine: free.
Amount Brown allegedly owed chef Steven Ruiz: $10,000.
Cost of missing three game checks and three bonus checks for not being active in those games: over $330,000.
The stupidity: priceless.
Young, like many in the media, is convinced that the vaccines are safe and effective.
Jonathan Jones of YahooSports.com also finds it easy to command the Buccaneers to dispose of Brown:
By lying about his vaccination status, Buccaneers wide receiver Antonio Brown put his teammates at risk, made a fool of his head coach and embarrassed the entire Tampa Bay organization.
Head coach Bruce Arians and general manager Jason Licht have only one course of action: cut Brown from the team.
The Buccaneers made the decision last season that they could live with the alleged sexual misconduct, harassment and assault claims against Brown when they signed him last October. After all, Tom Brady wanted him there and believed Brown would fly straight under his watch.
In November 2020, Arians stated that Brown was on a strict “one strike and you’re out” policy with the Buccaneers.
“He’s been a model citizen,” Arians told SiriusXM at the time. “If and when he’s not, we’ll move on. He knows that. Our team knows that. I don’t really think we’re going to have any problems. We haven’t had any so far and I really would not anticipate any.”
When Brown was first alleged to have asked for and received a fake vaccination card, Arians was indignant that not only was it untrue but that it had nothing to do with football.
“None whatsoever,” Arians said. “We did our due diligence. The league will do theirs. The statement says everything. I really don’t think it’s a story, and it has nothing to do with the Giants game.”
He further claimed the allegation was a non-story on the Rich Eisen Show.
“There is no story. Yeah, [Brown] says he’s vaccinated and has a card, just like everybody else on our football team,” Arians told Eisen. “There’s a trust factor that goes along with it, and we did our due diligence on everybody. The league will look into the matter and do their due diligence, but it’s really no story.”
Arians now looks foolish for taking Brown at his word. The team’s medical staff looks equally foolish for being duped by a fake vaccination card when the league investigation found not just one but three cards all to have been forged.
Comparisons have already started between Brown and Aaron Rodgers. There’s a massive difference between the two situations. It seems most, if not all, of Rodgers’ teammates and coaches knew he was unvaccinated. The league did as well. Rodgers, according to the league’s investigation, adhered to the protocols for unvaccinated players a large majority of the time. He chose to be intentionally misleading when asked publicly so that he could avoid being asked more questions.
Brown lied to his teammates, his coaches and the team’s medical staff. He went through the building and enjoyed the perks (at least in the NFL) of being considered a vaccinated individual. These two situations aren’t even particularly similar.
Not to mention … this is a federal offense. Jail time is unlikely, but a fine and/or probation is possible should the government decide to bring Brown up on charges. You could argue he’s the highest-profile name in America to have been found using a fake vaccination card so far. According to the FBI’s website, using a fake COVID-19 vaccine card is “unauthorized use of a government agency’s seal” and a violation of federal law.
It would be difficult, from a football perspective, to release Brown. He has two 100-yard receiving games this season and looked to be returning to his old self before his ankle injury sidelined him in October. The Bucs, who are 5-0 this season with Brown in the lineup and 3-3 without, want to repeat as Super Bowl champions, and they’d have a better shot at doing that with Brown than without.
The Bucs also couldn’t retain Brown while cutting safety Mike Edwards, who along with Brown and former Bucs receiver and current free agent John Franklin III, was found to have also used a fake vaccination card. Cutting Edwards and not releasing Brown would be a naked admission that Brown is too important to release no matter if he violated federal law, lied to his team and put teammates’ health and safety at risk.
But at some point enough is enough. Several NFL teams had decided “enough” on Brown last season. The Bucs figured he was worth it, and on the field, he was.
Now his immaturity and selfishness have embarrassed another franchise, and there’s only one way the Buccaneers should turn.
If the Buccaneers were to cut Brown, based on how well he has performed for Tampa Bay while on the field, how long would it be before another team signed him?
Mike Florio is on the case as to whether there are other miscreants:
According to NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy, 80 percent of all players were vaccinated at the club facilities. For them, there’s nothing to vet.
Of course, that leaves the other 20 percent. According to McCarthy, the NFL “checked with clubs this week to see if there was a differential between the number of positive cases among players vaccinated off site versus those on site.” He said there was “no difference.”
This means that the league has not yet vetted the cards submitted by the 20 percent of all players who received vaccinations away from the team facility. Instead, the league has asked the team whether the percentage of positive tests from players vaccinated at the facility is any different thank the percentage of positive tests from players vaccinated elsewhere. It isn’t, and that apparently is the end of it.
Obviously, that’s technically irrelevant to whether players are lying about their vaccination status. To know for sure, the cards need to be fully vetted.
And while it may be difficult to do, the league did it with Brown, Mike Edwards, and John Franklin III.
So, basically, there may be other unvaccinated players who are masquerading as vaccinated. Unless and until they stiff their live-in chefs, we won’t know whether that’s the case. |
