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Stephen A. Smith has finally revealed his thoughts on Shannon Sharpe’s upcoming departure from Fox Sports 1, sharing that he would invite the three-time Super Bowl winner to appear on ESPN’s First Take, but only as guest, and not as a co-host.
On Wednesday, it was announced that Fox Sports and Sharpe agreed to a buyout, putting an end to the analyst’s seven-year run as co-host of ‘Undisputed’ alongside Skip Bayless.
Smith, who previously served as debate partners with Bayless on ESPN from 2012-2016, officially weighed in on the news on his Fan Duel podcast and invited Sharpe to join the list of former NFL players-turned-analysts on ‘First Take.’
Smith mentioned early on that he wouldn’t provide his opinion on Bayless, who was pivotal in Smith’s hiring at ESPN 11 years ago, before talking about Sharpe’s exit later in June.
‘When news was announced that Shannon Sharpe had been bought out of FS1 and he would be leaving at the conclusion of the NBA Finals, there were two things that came to my mind,’ Smith said.
ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith wants Shannon Sharpe to join ‘First Take’, but only as a weekly guest
Shannon Sharpe is set to leave Fox Sports’ ‘Undisputed’, seven years after co-hosting the show
‘That’s a big loss for the show ”Undisputed” because Shannon matters, and that I don’t know what his plans are, I don’t know what he’s trying to pursue, I don’t know what he’s after, but if Shannon Sharpe needs me, then I’m happy to be there for him.
‘And if that includes wanting to come on ”First Take,” the bosses at ESPN know that is something that I would support.’
Smith said he wouldn’t consider Sharpe as a day-to-day on-air partner on his show, but that he’d add the former tight end to the weekly rotation that also includes the likes of Michael Irvin, Keyshawn Johnson, Ryan Clark, Dan Orlovsky, Marcus Spears and Damien Woody.
‘I’m telling you right here: if Shannon Sharpe wanted to join that roster, there’s no resistance from Stephen A. I’ve got love for Shannon Sharpe,’ Smith said.
Smith added that he was ‘not surprised at all’ in regards to Sharpe’s departure from ‘Undisputed’, referring to the on-air spat between the Pro Football Hall of Famer and Bayless over Damar Hamlin’s cardiac arrest in January.
The 55-year-old, Bronx native clarified that he’s never spoken to Sharpe or Bayless about their feud, but he remembers thinking to himself that ‘this is over’ when both TV personalities butted heads on-air, five months ago.
Smith also announced that he and Sharpe agreed to appear on both ‘Club Shay Shay’ and Smith’s eponymous show in the near future.
On Friday, it was revealed that Sharpe’s ‘power struggle’ with Bayless led to a buyout with Fox Sports, according to ex-NFL star and FS1 personality, Marcellus Wiley.
Smith joined ‘First Take’ on ESPN in 2012, squaring off against longtime analyst Skip Bayless (R)
Sharpe has not spoken out about his reported exit, choosing to remain silent on the issue on the latest edition of the show after the news broke, but he did like a tweet commenting on the breakup.
‘Their relationship got progressively worse over the last 2 maybe 3 years because skip fought for him to be on that show but I feel like skip couldn’t stand Shannon succeeding without and that’s when skip was taking pot shots on air,’ the tweet read.
The Post cited ‘people close to Sharpe’ who said he wanted to have more of a say in the show’s topic selection.
The pair have clashed on-air several times, including after a controversial tweet from Bayless following the scary collapse of Hamlin.
Bayless tweeted the night of Hamlin’s collapse in early January that the NFL couldn’t postpone the Buffalo Bills game with the Bengals due to scheduling, despite significant fears about Hamlin surviving after going into cardiac arrest on the field.
‘No doubt the NFL is considering postponing the rest of this game – but how? This late in the season, a game of this magnitude is crucial to the regular-season outcome … which suddenly seems so irrelevant,’ Bayless wrote.
Sharpe stayed away from the following day’s episode of ‘Undisputed’ and when he returned the day after, he was visibly frustrated by Bayless interrupting him while he explained his stance.
Bayless apologized for the tweet but did not delete it.
Sharpe liked a tweet that suggested a rift with Undisputed co-host Bayless on Thursday
Sharpe has clashed with co-host Bayless in recent months – notably over Damar Hamlin
The above tweet from Bayless on the night Hamlin had his cardiac arrest caused outrage
‘Skip tweeted something, and although I disagreed with the tweet, and hopefully Skip will take it down,’ Sharpe said, explaining his absence around the Hamlin incident, before Bayless interjected.
‘Timeout,’ Bayless said. ‘I’m not going to take it down, because I stand by what I tweeted.’
Sharpe responded: ‘I can’t even get through a monologue without you interrupting me.
They also clashed on a personal level back in December when Bayless compared Sharpe retiring at 35 to Tom Brady playing up to 45.
Sharpe played as a tight end – winning two Super Bowls with Denver Broncos and one other with the Baltimore Ravens – where as Brady was, of course, a quarterback.
‘I did what I did!’ Sharpe responded to Bayless. ‘You make it seem like I was a bum! I’m in the effin’ Hall of Fame. I got three Super Bowls!’
Bayless did not back down, saying: ‘So what? He’s way better than you were.’
