It sure seems like Antonio Brown and JuJu Smith-Schuster are on the verge of repairing their rocky relationship.
Thursday, Smith-Schuster held court for media in Miami during Super Bowl week, and, to the surprise of no one, plenty of questions were asked about Brown and his wild spiral since leaving the Steelers after the 2018 NFL season.
Smith-Schuster could have slammed Brown at every turn. After all, it was Brown who took the opportunity to gloat after Smith-Schuster's below-average 2019 campaign:
Boo Boo Shoester was ready under 500 U Bum learn some Respect
— AB (@AB84) December 30, 2019
There was this, too:
Emotion: boy fumbled the whole post season in the biggest game of year ! Everyone went blind to busy making guys famous not enough reality these days ! 🤙🏾 by the way check the list https://t.co/2SWWT8k0jx
— AB (@AB84) April 7, 2019
And Smith-Schuster couldn't leave that one alone at the time:
All I ever did was show that man love and respect from the moment I got to the league. I was genuinely happy for him too when he got traded to Oakland w/ a big contract, and now he takes shots at me on social media?
— JuJu Smith-Schuster (@TeamJuJu) April 7, 2019
Thursday, it was more of the same from Smith-Schuster in response. He kept it classy, saying he was "concerned" for Brown and even detailing how positive their time as teammates on the Steelers was for him and for his growth.
"You know, playing with Antonio Brown my first couple years, we always talked about being great and dominating. And that’s what we did," Smith-Schuster told Pat McAfee. "The last time we played with each other, we both had over 1,000 yards and 100 catches and what’s going on right now off the field, social media-wise, it’s pretty, pretty crazy. I did not expect [any] of this.
“We were kind of, like, hand-for-hand. Let’s both be great. Let’s both do this. Let’s both reach our goal. And then the situation, what happened with him and with the Steelers, it sucked. Tough situation.”
Following the interviews, quotes aplenty from Smith-Schuster circulated the Internet, and Brown apparently saw them, posting this to his Instagram later Thursday evening:
Now, Smith-Schuster is firing back with his own thoughts, taking a moment Friday to tweet:
Unblock me so we can talk then. pic.twitter.com/JfZKweShC6
— JuJu Smith-Schuster (@TeamJuJu) January 31, 2020
Hey, it's a start.
Whether Brown will actually unblock him and open the lines of communication is a separate story, of course.
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