It's been a while since Antonio Brown made the news and, once again, it's not for his great play for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Instead, the NFL's favorite troublemaker is trending for his latest suspension.
The former Pittsburgh Steelers wideout faked his vaccination card and was handed a 3-game suspension. Bucs safety Mike Edward and receiver John Franklin III were also caught after a two-week investigation.
These accusations arose fifteen days ago but all parties involved denied the story. Now, the league and the NFL Players' Association concluded that the former Patriots receiver did, indeed, fake his status.
NFL Suspends Antonio Brown Over Fake Vaccination Card
“The health and safety of players and personnel is our top priority,” the NFLPA and NFL said in a joint statement. “The protocols were jointly development working with our respective experts to ensure that we are practicing and playing football as safety as possible during the ongoing pandemic. 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."
This Is Why Aaron Rodgers Wasn't Suspended
But why wasn't Aaron Rodgers suspended just like Brown? Well, according to Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk, it's because the league and the Packers knew that Rodgers wasn't vaccinated; whereas Brown lied to the team:
"That said, Rodgers lied about his status to everybody else, both with his words and his actions — repeatedly showing up for indoors press conferences without wearing a mistake, despite the protocols applicable to unvaccinated players," reported Florio. "And the fact that he broke the rules that the NFL and NFL Players Association regarded as necessary to protect, for example, the reporters in the press room while questioning unvaccinated players means that, in the estimation of the league and the union, Rodgers put those reporters at risk.
It's as simple as that. If you're going to make a personal choice, so be it, but at least live by it. You can't sit there with a straight face and lie to your coaches and teammates but hey, it's Antonio Brown we're talking about.
