Former NFL star Brandon Marshall recently ignited a heated media debate after taking a major swipe at ESPN and Stephen A. Smith.
As we all know by now, Smith is never one to stay silent when faced with a controversial claim about himself, and he wasted no time firing back at Marshall with a sharp rebuttal on his show.
During his conversation with Newton on the "4th & 1" podcast, Marshall used Smith as an example of what he sees as the decline of mainstream sports reporting.
"When I say Stephen A. Smith, what I'm saying is ESPN," Marshall said. "What I'm saying is traditional media, mainstream media. So when you go back, how it started was integrity, journalism, right, at the highest level.
"Now what happened was the Stephen A. Smiths of the world and the Skip Baylesses of the world start bringing this debate into it where it wasn't about facts, where it wasn't about doing my research and credibility. It was about who has the best opinion."
Marshall then accused ESPN and traditional sports media of contributing to negative narratives surrounding athletes whenever controversies or scandals occur.
The former wide receiver went on to make his strongest accusation yet, claiming that ESPN helped popularize clickbait and click-driven headlines.
Smith replayed Marshall's comments on his "Stephen A. Smith Sports" podcast before offering a sharp response.
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While the ESPN analyst acknowledged his personal respect for and long-standing relationship with Marshall, he did not hold back in rejecting the former receiver's argument. Smith also pushed back against the claim that ESPN relies on cheap online tactics.
"ESPN started clickbait. What are you talking about?" Smith asked . "ESPN doesn't need clicks. ESPN is the worldwide leader in sports. Brandon, we have rights and have had league rights to every league in sports.
"This is some of the most asinine stuff. This is the kind of stuff that drives me absolutely insane because it makes no sense."
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Beyond defending ESPN's reach, Smith turned the mirror back on Marshall, accusing him of hypocrisy given his own presence in modern digital media.
"Brandon Marshall, didn't you use to have The Pivot? Didn't you have I Am Athlete? Don't you still have it? What you're lamenting other people have done, ain't you doing that?" Smith asked.
Smith then addressed Marshall's criticism of how ESPN and other media outlets cover negative stories involving athletes.
"If we're talking about a news story because they talked about the negativity issues that came about, whether it's you, or any other athlete or anybody else in the world of sports, that's part of it."
The back-and-forth is notable given that both Smith and Marshall have spent years building careers in sports media, albeit through very different paths.
Smith has been involved in sports journalism since his younger years while attending Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina.
He eventually built a career in print journalism before joining ESPN in 2003 as an analyst, where he has made a name for himself.
Meanwhile, Marshall took a very different route into the media business. While he was still an active NFL wide receiver, he became a regular television analyst on Showtime's "Inside the NFL."
After retiring from the NFL, Marshall co-hosted FS1's morning debate show "First Things First" before eventually moving away from traditional television.
This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network .
