Deebo Samuel's previous comments about cornerback James Bradberry have attracted plenty of attention as the San Francisco 49ers prepare to face the Philadelphia Eagles in a rematch of last season's NFC Championship Game.
But Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown on Friday made light of Samuel's remarks about his teammate.
Samuel is on record as previously describing Bradberry as "trash" after last year's title game, in which San Francisco's offensive threat was essentially removed by them running out of healthy quarterbacks following injuries to Brock Purdy and Josh Johnson.
Asked about those comments this week, Samuel replied: "I don’t regret nothing I said."
Despite the Niners wideout standing by his remarks, his good friend Brown insisted his words shouldn't be taken too seriously.
"I don’t think Deebo means any harm," said Brown. "That's just him.
"He’s just having fun. I don’t think it’s a shot at Bradberry personally. That’s just how he talks. He’s a big kid."
Brown's response is not overly surprising. He has a close friendship with Samuel, but he made sure the Niners star was on receiving end of plenty of choice words himself this week, inviting Eagles fans to troll him on social media, with Samuel responding in kind.
"It's all fun and games man, of course when the game starts I'm definitely going to be locked in," Brown said. "It's always a pleasure to play against one of my closest friends. He's a funny guy, you know. He loves the attention, as you can see. So I tried to give him a little bit.
"They've been on him tough. I know some of the San Fran people; they've been trying to give it back to me, so it's all good."
Bradberry's considered response
Bradberry was this week asked about Samuel's choice of language, but chose not to get into a war of words.
"Of course, I don’t necessarily like what he said," Bradberry said, per Dave Zangaro of NBC Sports Philadelphia. "I wish he would have used a better word to describe my play, but it is what it is. At the end of the day, all I can do is control my work ethic and what I do day to day.
"You would have to ask him," Bradberry said when quizzed on why Samuel used that word. "From the clips that I saw, they felt like they had a good game plan against us. They felt like they had some open routes against us. Yeah, I don’t know. You’ve got to ask him."
Brown and Bradberry's responses serve as a continuation on a theme in the build-up to a massive contest that could go a long way to deciding the number one seed in the NFC.
After a lot of chatter in the offseason regarding the events of the title game, neither side has spent much time engaging in trash talk, with both electing to stay focused on the task at hand.
Still, given the previous bad blood between the two teams and what is sure to be a raucous atmosphere at Lincoln Financial Field, it would be no surprise to see the rematch get chippy in a hurry. Even if it does, Samuel and Brown will almost certainly have a warm greeting for each other after the final snap regardless of the result.
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