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Fournette wants 'misunderstood' Antonio Brown back with Bucs
Antonio Brown has the support of at least one former Bucs teammate. Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

RB Leonard Fournette wants 'misunderstood' Antonio Brown back with Buccaneers

Running back Leonard Fournette earned his first Super Bowl ring with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last month and returned to the champions via a one-year contract. 

Per Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk, Fournette campaigned for free-agent wide receiver Antonio Brown to join the long list of recognizable names who elected to remain with the Buccaneers as they prepare to defend their title when he spoke with the media on Wednesday. 

"I hope he comes back," Fournette said of Brown. "Guys like that, you need around. He’s just I think misunderstood, a lot. I didn’t know too much about AB before we played with each other, but he’s a great guy to be around and I hope he comes back."

After the Super Bowl LV win over the Kansas City Chiefs, Brown said he would "love to come back and give it another shot at a two-peat." As Scott Rogust noted for FanSided, Brown referenced Fournette during an Instagram Live interview shared on March 21. "Me and playoff Lenny gonna work this out," Brown said of the pair potentially re-signing with Tampa Bay. 

Brown recorded 45 catches for 483 yards and four touchdowns across eight regular-season games with the Buccaneers and reportedly has a contract with the franchise for the 2021 season if he wants it. The 32-year-old might be seeking a bigger and better payday elsewhere but should also realize the Buccaneers have been linked with future Hall of Famer Larry Fitzgerald in free-agency rumors. 

Zac Wassink

Zac Wassink is a longtime sports news writer and PFWA member who began his career in 2006 and has had his work featured on Yardbarker, MSN, Yahoo Sports and Bleacher Report. He is also a football and futbol aficionado who is probably yelling about Tottenham Hotspur at the moment and who chanted for Matt Harvey to start the ninth inning of Game 5 of the 2015 World Series at Citi Field. You can find him on X at @ZacWassink

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NFL

Chiefs have a no-brainer trade target after loss vs. Bills

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The 'NFL franchise TD-catch leaders' quiz
NFL Quiz

The 'NFL franchise TD-catch leaders' quiz

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NFL

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Three wild statistics about the 2025 World Series you may not know
MLB

Three wild statistics about the 2025 World Series you may not know

The 2025 World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays will go down as one of the best seven-game Fall Classics in history. Won in extra innings by the Dodgers on Saturday night, this year's World Series had plenty of wild moments and memorable performances. However, there were also some things that happened during this year's World Series that were historic but also didn't make as many headlines as Yoshinobu Yamamoto's MVP pitching or Will Smith's World Series-winning home run. With that in mind, here are three things that will add this year's World Series to the baseball record books. This 2025 World Series was just like ... 1926? Sure, this year's World Series went seven games. However, the pattern of wins between Toronto and Los Angeles was unlike anything seen in the Fall Classic since the St. Louis Cardinals beat the New York Yankees in seven games in 1926. Per Elias, the 2025 World Series was just the second-ever World Series to follow the path of the home team winning Game 1, road team winning Game 2, home team winning Game 3, and the road team winning Games 4 through 7, joining the Cardinals and Yankees 1926. The Dodgers player made headlines and history Los Angeles outfielder Justin Dean was in the middle of one of the most talked about plays of Game 6 when he signaled to the umpires that Addison Barger's hit to left-center in the ninth inning was wedged under the wall. With that signal, the umpires ruled it to be a dead ball, keeping Barger to a double and preventing Myles Straw from scoring from first base (he was held at third with the dead ball call). That decision kept the Los Angeles lead at 3-1, which would be the final as Tyler Glasnow worked his way out of the jam to record the save. Dean being put into the game for defensive purposes happened more than you might have thought during not only the World Series but the entire postseason as well. The 28-year-old Dean appeared in 12 games this postseason but did not register a plate appearance, entering a defensive replacement in center field 10 times and as a pinch-runner twice. His 12 games played during the postseason are the most ever in a single postseason without any plate appearances (among non-pitchers), surpassing the previous record of 10 games without a plate appearance by Clay Bellinger in 2000. Bellinger appeared in 11 games for the Yankees in 2000, getting a hit in his lone plate appearance. Hitting home runs? It's an international thing. Trailing 4-3 in the ninth inning of Game 7, Miguel Rojas of the Dodgers launched a game-tying home run, marking the 10th home run of the World Series hit by an internationally born player. Also joining Rojas as a player born outside the United States to hit a homer during the Fall Classic were Shohei Ohtani (three homers), Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (two), Alejandro Kirk (two), Enrique Hernandez (one) and Teoscar Hernandez (one). Per Elias, the 10 home runs are the most in a single World Series by internationally born players, breaking a tie with 2017 and 2019, which had nine each.

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