The facts
The NFL world was shocked Wednesday morning by the news that Philadelphia Eagles right tackle Lane Johnson was retiring four games into the season. Johnson announced his decision with a statement on social media, noting that “right now, it is critical to focus on my mental health.”
The most prominent reaction ultimately came from one of the industry’s biggest stars, Stephen A. Smith, whose joking, dismissive response to Johnson stepping back from football was roundly criticized online.
On First Take, Smith quipped that it was the Eagles’ poor start to the season and worrisome injury situation that led Johnson to hang up his cleats.
“Now, he calls it quits. Not before the season. Not in the offseason. Oh, no, no, no, no!” Smith cackled. “After being subjected to this, he said, ‘Life is a little bit too short. I need to focus’” he went on, “what did he say? His mental health? Am I making it up?”
Smith then laid it on the Eagles a bit more before adding:
“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.’”
Later in the show, Smith clarified his remarks, responding to a comment from Kimberley Martin accusing him of making light of Johnson’s longtime struggle with mental health, which he has been public about for several years. Smith explained that his criticism was not of Johnson but the Eagles.
On his SiriusXM radio show later Wednesday, Smith offered a longer statement that largely focused on the same argument: that he was “misconstrued.”
“I’m sorry that when I was on television earlier this morning, on First Take … people misconstrued me minimizing mental health,” Smith said, per an edited video posted to his X account. “I would never do that. Hell, I had mental health issues.”
Smith shared that in 2017, following his mother’s passing, he often “saw black” and relied heavily on therapy and his family to heal.
Smith added that he’s “not only sensitive to mental health issues,” but also “very aware” of their effects. Yet Smith couldn’t quite take himself out of showman mode, and continued with his troll job of the Eagles.
“Ladies and gentlemen, facetiously speaking, that kind of stress can take you down,” he said. “That kind of stress can ravage your world. That kind of stress can you make you say, ‘You know what? I don’t need this.’”
Smith closed by giving Johnson a “congratulations” and arguing that he is a “surefire” Hall of Famer.
By the time Smith posted his radio response, numerous critiques had poured in. The most notable came from The Athletic, where sports media insider Andrew Marchand took the rare step of penning an entire column responding to Smith’s misstep. The headline stated Smith “embarrassed” himself, called for Smith to apologize, and called out the fact that Smith, a former Philadelphia Inquirer reporter, could miss the long history of Johnson opening about his mental health in order to entertain during a television segment.
“Life is not a show,” Marchand wrote.
The issue goes beyond Smith’s tone and dismissiveness. Aside from the fact that Johnson, 36, had already announced this would be his final season due to mental health difficulties, he also specifically noted his parents’ declining health and the desire to be around for his son’s teenage years.
As many noted, it should be easy for a former Philadelphia sportswriter to find these details, or even do some reporting himself. If Smith, who is stretched incredibly thin doing live broadcasting for five hours each day, didn’t have the time or interest to look deeper into such a serious story, it would have been very easy to sit back and let his First Take panel or the rest of the sports media world do it for him.
Even in supposedly apologizing, Smith couldn’t muster energy beyond claiming a misunderstanding and leaning further into unserious, debate-show tricks.
Our take
Stephen A. Smith is a goddamn clown, but the real tragedy is he's a lazy clown. When a respected veteran like Lane Johnson retires early to focus on his mental health - a struggle he's been public about for fucking years - the correct response from any human with a shred of decency is to shut the fuck up. Stephen A.'s response was to turn into a cackling game-show host, doing his best impression of a man who just found a hundred-dollar bill in a pile of dog shit. 'Not before the season! Not in the offseason! Oh, no, no, no, no!' he squealed, acting like he'd cracked the case that Johnson just couldn't stomach playing for a bad team. This from a guy who used to work for the Philadelphia Inquirer, a paper that presumably has archives and maybe even Google. The prick couldn't be bothered to do thirty seconds of reading before deciding a man's documented mental health crisis was actually a secret commentary on the Eagles' offensive line depth.
Then, when his own co-host had to explain the actual story to him on live television, this absolute cunt pivoted to his favorite play: the 'You Misunderstood Me' two-step. He didn't apologize for being a dismissive asshole; he apologized that you were too stupid to get his brilliant, nuanced comedy. He posted an edited video to his X account saying he was 'sorry that... people misconstrued me.' Not 'sorry I was a dick,' but sorry you're all a bunch of illiterate morons who can't parse the high art of Stephen A. Smith making a 'joke' about clinical depression. He even tried to cloak himself in his own past trauma, talking about seeing black after his mom died, as if that fucking receipt gives him a license to be a prick about someone else's pain today. It's the debating equivalent of a kid who shits his pants and then blames the smell on the family dog.
The best part, the truly beautiful cherry on this sundae of shit, is that he couldn't even commit to the fake apology. He had to keep trolling the Eagles, saying with a wink that 'that kind of stress' from losing games 'can ravage your world.' So his final position is: I wasn't mocking mental health, I was just pointing out that the psychic toll of watching the Eagles lose is identical to the documented mental health crisis that forced a man to end his career. What a sensitive, aware piece of work. Andrew Marchand at The Athletic was right to call this an embarrassment. Smith is a professional talker who forgot that talking requires, at a minimum, knowing what the fuck you're talking about. He's a grifter in a suit, a man so addicted to the sound of his own voice that he'll use a retirement announcement about family and health as a springboard for another lazy, unfunny bit. The only thing more pathetic than his original take is the soggy, self-serving bullshit he calls a clarification. He's not a pundit; he's a piss stain on the profession.
