Jets Star Eviscerates Stephen A. Smith Over Nonstop Ragebait
ESPN makes noise but no longer commands respect.
ESPN has turned into an MTV2-level network of trash commentary, and professional athletes are starting to treat it that way.
The truth is, ESPN is no longer interested in cogent analysis … that reality was on full display when New York Jets wide receiver Garrett Wilson called out Stephen A. Smith over his "First Take" segment on Wednesday.
ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith. (Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images for PrizePicks)
Smith hopped on national TV to suggest that Oregon quarterback Dante Moore should actively avoid being drafted by the Jets, even if it meant sabotaging his own career.
"No. 2, let me say this, and I'm damn near serious about this. I'd eat something to provoke myself to have food poisoning, where I'm like garbage, before playing for the Jets," Smith said.
"I'm telling you right now, whatever I could do to be alive and be okay in the end, but to ruin their thoughts of ever wanting me on their roster, I would do. And I'd go back to college before I play for the Jets. They are a football atrocity. They are awful. I mean, straight garbage..."
The segment offered no insight into Moore, the draft, or how bad franchises improve.
New York Jets wide receiver Garrett Wilson. (Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images)
It was built to be clipped for easy outrage, and ESPN knows full shows no longer drive engagement.
Garrett Wilson responded, calling out Smith's bad-take factory by tagging him on X with a blunt reminder on the network's declining support.
"Damn, (you) gotta be a real sellout (and) above all a square to be on ESPN nowadays. Used to love that show," Wilson posted on X.
The saddest casualty of ESPN's modern television formula is Stephen A. Smith himself.
Smith was once a legitimate reporter with real sources and real credibility.
Now he’s leaning into exaggerated delivery and hollow provocation designed to fuel cheap TikTok shorts and social media scraps. And the move was pure cynicism.
ESPN’s takes are exaggerated because they’re meant to live briefly online, not hold up under scrutiny.
There’s no incentive to be right, only to be loud enough to survive the timeline.
ESPN isn’t being argued with anymore. It’s being clipped, mocked and scrolled past. And the result is a network that still makes noise but no longer commands respect.
Send us your thoughts: alejandro.avila@outkick.com / Follow along on X: @alejandroaveela