Antonio Brown's sideline meltdown ended up costing him so much bonus money

Antonio Brown was already on thin ice with the Buccaneers upon returning from a suspension for misrepresenting a COVID-19 vaccination card, and it didn’t take much longer to see his Tampa Bay career come to an end.

Brown stormed off the field during the third quarter of Sunday’s Week 17 game against the New York Jets. After a conversation with Mike Evans, a heated Brown removed his jersey, threw his gloves and shirt into the stands and straight-up left … in the middle of the game. The meltdown was Brown’s final act with the Bucs as head coach Bruce Arians announced the wide receiver’s release after the game.

And the entire ordeal ended up being costlier than Brown probably realized at the time.

According to Spotrac, Brown was awfully close to hitting several performance bonuses on his one-year, $3.1 million contract with the Bucs. He was eight catches, 55 receiving yards and one receiving touchdown away from $333,333 bonuses respectively. It wasn’t out of the question for Brown to hit on several — if not all — of those incentive bonuses.

But with his release, he effectively left $1 million on the table because of a tantrum — embarrassing and costly. It wasn’t all bad news for Tampa Bay, though. In Brown’s absence, the Bucs rallied to beat the Jets, 28-24.