Garrett Wilson and Stephen A. Smith Credit: © Julian Leshay Guadalupe/NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images; First Take
By Sam Neumann on

Stephen A. Smith told the world on Wednesday that he’d rather poison himself than play for the Jets. Garrett Wilson, who actually plays for the Jets, called him a sellout.

The wide receiver fired back at Smith on social media after the ESPN star spent several minutes on First Take explaining why prospects should do anything — including giving themselves food poisoning — to avoid being drafted by New York.

“Damn, u gotta be a real sell out n above all a square to be on ESPN nowadays,” Wilson wrote on X. “Used to love that show.”

Smith’s rant came during a segment about Oregon quarterback Dante Moore, who’s projected as the No. 2 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft if he declares. The Jets hold that pick after finishing 3-14 in first-year head coach Aaron Glenn’s first season.

“Let me say this — and I’m damn near serious about this — I’d eat to provoke myself to have food poisoning where I’m like garbage before I played for the Jets,” Smith said. “Whatever I could do to be alive and be OK in the end, but to ruin their thoughts of ever wanting me on their roster, I would do. And damnit, I’d go back to college before I played for the Jets. They’re a football atrocity. They’re awful. I mean, straight garbage.”

Smith didn’t stop with the organization. He turned his attention to Glenn, calling for the first-year coach to be fired despite multiple reports indicating his job is safe heading into 2026, with ownership viewing this as Year 1 of a rebuild.

“I am a Black man that is consistently pushing for opportunities for Black coaches throughout the years — I have done that,” Smith said. “It’s gotten a lot better than it has in the past. And it hurts me to say this, OK? Ain’t no way in hell Aaron Glenn should still be the head coach of the New York Jets. They are horrible and digressed, damn near nosedived.”

Smith continued his rant by framing the Jets as a franchise that destroys careers and crushes hope.

“There are people that have passed away rooting for the Jets,” Smith said. “They’re horrible. Horrible. And they’re the place to go if you want to sink, if you want to dissipate, if you want to just rot away. They’re horrible. Listen, if I was a parent, my child would not even go to the draft. I’m not letting my child (play for the Jets). If he was my brother, I wouldn’t let him. If he was my nephew, I wouldn’t let him. I don’t give a damn what it is. If you gotta poison his food, if you gotta do something to prevent him from being a New York Jet, you do it.”

In addition to Smith, The Ringer’s Todd McShay said on his podcast earlier this week that Moore should return to Oregon rather than risk being drafted by the Jets. McShay went further, claiming “not one single player in this entire draft” wants to be a Jet unless they have family ties to the organization. Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt echoed the sentiment on Tuesday on The Herd, advising Moore to stay in school, where he can earn comparable NIL money while avoiding New York’s dysfunction.

Wilson, 24, has experienced that dysfunction firsthand since arriving as a first-round pick in 2022. He’s dealt with three different head coaches and constant quarterback turnover while posting back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons before injuries limited him this year.

The reactions to Smith’s comments didn’t stop with Wilson, either.

About Sam Neumann

Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.

View all posts by Sam Neumann