Skip Bayless feels Tom Brady lost his favorite target with departure of Antonio Brown

At least one national pundit is dumbfounded that Antonio Brown is no longer a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Skip Bayless ensured that 2022 has taken no heat off his hot takes, as the year's first episode of Undisputed opened with a slight defense of Brown after his bizarre exit from Tampa's 28-24 win over the New York Jets. Though host Alex Curry and co-analyst Shannon Sharpe were eager to discuss Bayless' beloved Dallas Cowboys loss to the Arizona Cardinals, Brown's Sunday antics, which saw the controversial player remove his upper equipment and leave the stadium during third quarter action, were what Bayless was most concerned about.

Tampa head coach Bruce Arians was mostly mum on what happened but confirmed that Brown was no longer a member of the team during his postgame statements.

Bayless believes that Tom Brady and the Bucs will rue Brown's absence

Many, including Sharpe, saw Brown's termination as necessary, with the three-time Super Bowl champion calling it a "no-brainer" after "we saw AB basically pull his pants down and show his you-know-what to the world." While Bayless acknowledged that, he said that the Brown situation would "blow up sooner (rather) than later" after he returned from a three-game suspension for misrepresenting his COVID-19 vaccination status. Nonetheless, Bayless believes that Tampa Bay's Super Bowl defense could become a lost cause without Brown.

Bayless noted that Brown had become quarterback Tom Brady's favorite receiver after Tampa was beset by injuries, namely a torn ACL/sprained MCL that ended top receiver Chris Godwin's season. To that end, Bayless explained, Brown was targeted 15 times in his Dec. 26 return, earning 101 yards on 10 receptions in a 32-6 win over Carolina.

"If you want to replace Chris Godwin, I can't think of a better way to replace him on the field or on paper than with Antonio Brown," Bayless said. "(Brown) is probably Tom's favorite target on the team even a little above Rob Gronkowski, who had fallen into Tom's doghouse."

To Bayless' point, Gronkowski, a well-documented favorite target of Brady's since their shared days in New England, had only two targets in the aforementioned win over the Panthers, one of which was a dropped touchdown. Bayless claims he texted an associate of Brown's who claimed that the receiver was displeased that Brady began to target the lauded tight end again, despite the former playing with an ankle injury. Gronkowski was targeted 10 times on Sunday against the Jets, catching seven for 115 yards.

Bayless says the Buccaneers forced hand in releasing Brown stems from Brady's staunch defenses of the receiver, which "emasculated" and "completely undercut" head coach Arians. Now, Bayless hints that Tampa's Super Bowl defense could be in danger after they had no choice but to cut ties with his supposedly new top target.

"All of his credibility and authority in the locker room got undercut because Brady said, 'B.A., I got to have him."

Tampa Bay (12-4) will partake in their regular season finale on Sunday afternoon at home against Carolina (4:25 p.m. ET, CBS).