Sports fans may have finally reached their breaking point with ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith.
During this Wednesday’s episode of “First Take,” Smith discussed Philadelphia Eagles offensive tackle Lane Johnson’s sudden retirement. The All-Pro announced Tuesday that he was retiring at the age of 36 to focus on his family and his mental health.
“I have given it my all for 14 years; season after season pushing my body to the max and tirelessly working my craft to not only live up to the legacy of the guys that came before me, but to set a new standard of success for the best franchise in all of sports,” Johnson wrote in his retirement letter. “I deeply wanted to gut it out for one more year; to take the field with my brothers for one last season. But after a lot of reflection, I’ve realized that my personal and family priorities in my life have changed. Right now, it is critical that I focus on my mental health. I owe it to my teammates, coaches, the organization and the fans to have my head and heart 100 percent in the game. And right now my heart is telling me that it’s time to say goodbye to football.”
Bill Streicher-Imagn Images.
Despite having a very valid reason for hanging up his cleats, Johnson’s retirement was questioned by Smith this Wednesday.
“He went like this, ‘You know what? I’m gonna call it quits.’ Now, he calls it quits. Not before the season. Not in the offseason. Oh, no, no, no, no! After being subjected to this, he said, ‘Life is a little bit too short. I need to focus’ — what did he say? His mental health? Am I making it up?” Smith said. “Four games into the 2026 season, a dude that has been in the league forever, sits back and says, ‘I need to focus on my mental health.’ As an offensive tackle, Lord, you know it’s bad. There’s no way [if] you’re undefeated, you’re winning football games, you’re thriving, everybody’s got Super Bowl in their sights, [that] you walk away. You walk away because it’s a very, very, very bad situation, and it doesn’t look to be getting any better.”
Countless fans ripped Smith for this take and urged him to apologize to Johnson. With that being said, he made a follow-up statement on his SiriusXM show.
“People misconstrued me minimizing mental health,” Smith said. “I’m not only sensitive to mental health issues, I’m very aware of it. I wasn’t talking about [Lane Johnson] and mental health. I was talking about how the Eagles, and how chaotic their situation is, can drive you to it.”
Using controversy for his own gain?
After hearing Smith’s latest comments about Johnson, NFL fans are convinced he stirs up controversy on “First Take” just to give his other shows a boost in viewership.
“I forgot who said it, but someone mentioned the possibility that Stephen A sometimes intentionally says clownish things on ESPN just so he can ‘release a statement’ or apologize on his own platform,” one person wrote on X. “I personally wouldn’t put it past him because I don’t know what the misunderstanding is about mental health.”
“Starting to think Stephen A says outlandish things on ESPN just so he can apologize on his own platform,” a second person commented.
“It’s clockwork, and tmrw’s show will open with him talking directly to the camera and espn will bring on a Dr. to explain the seriousness of mental health and flash 988 going to commercial. Then back to the nonsense Friday like nothing ever happened,” another person replied.
If we had to guess, Smith will probably address this situation during Thursday’s episode of “First Take.”
Make no mistake, this won’t be the last time Smith says something controversial.
