Antonio Brown, yes, THAT Antonio Brown is broke.
The former and recently retired NFL star wide receiver has filed for bankruptcy. Brown, who played 12 seasons in the NFL, mostly with the Pittsburgh Steelers, reportedly made more than $80 million throughout his career but currently has assets valued at $50,000 or less, and according to records recently filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of Florida, owes nearly $3 million to eight different creditors. Amongst these claims is a court judgment of $1.2 million to Anton Tumanov, a truck driver who sued Brown for assault and battery relating to a 2020 incident, as well as $2 million owed to KCB Marketing, and reportedly thousands of dollars in credit card debt. Brown’s decision to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy means he can reorganize his finances while having them protected from creditors.
This setback is just the most recent in a long string of setbacks for the NFL star that started toward the end of his career and carried into his post-NFL life, ranging from the very serious to the bizarre. In 2020, Brown was suspended by the NFL for eight games for various violations of the league’s personal conduct policy, which included the aforementioned assault and battery accusations against Tumanov as well as a series of threatening texts Brown allegedly sent to a woman who accused him of sexual misconduct. Then in 2021, Brown settled a lawsuit for sexual assault that was brought forth by a former trainer. Also in 2021, Brown served a three-game suspension for providing the Buccaneers a fake COVID-19 vaccination card. Then, of course, there is the infamous mid-game shirtless display that resulted in him exiting the game.
Upon leaving the NFL, Brown tried to start a new chapter by becoming the majority owner of the Albany Empire, which is a National Arena League team, in April of 2023, but his tenure was short-lived. After two short months, the league terminated his team’s membership citing a “failure to pay their league-mandated overdue assessments.” Brown was also fined $1,000 for Conduct Detrimental to the League but reportedly refused to pay it. Perhaps the most disheartening part of all of this is that prior to Brown’s involvement, the team had won back-to-back NAL Championships. Then, about a month and a half ago, Brown had his mental health called into question when he was reportedly blocked on X (formerly known as Twitter) by WNBA star Caitlin Clark for a sexually crude post.
While Brown is not the first NFL star to be met with hardship or turn into tabloid fodder, you’d be hard-pressed to find another player who has fallen so hard, so fast, and in such public fashion. Drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers at No. 196 overall in the sixth round of the 2010 NFL Draft, Brown quickly became a perennial Pro Bowler and one of the more productive and electrifying wide receivers in the league. Before the 2019 season, however, amid a contract dispute, Brown requested a trade and things began to go quickly downhill. Brown was cut by the then-Oakland Raiders before ever playing a single snap, and then spent time with the New England Patriots and Buccaneers, with both stays ending in controversy. This is another sad chapter in the life of a man who for nearly a decade racked up accolades as one of the best wide receivers in the league. Unfortunately, the further removed he gets from his stellar career the more what he does off the field begins to overshadow anything he did on it.
https://x.com/TheSportsMemery/status/1793354146713592130
A die hard Bears fan and fantasy sports fantastic, T.J. Besler earned his journalism (and theatre) degree from The University of Iowa. When he isn’t busy writing parodies for his YouTube channel Parodies for Charities he can be found either on stage performing or doing all things fantasy football related. Besler has traveled to nearly all 50 states either for work or leisure, and is grateful to everyone who has helped him along the way, especially his lovely wife Elsa, without whom much of this would not be possible. BEAR DOWN!
