Drake Maye has no interest in escalating a feud with Stephen A. Smith.
ESPN has frequently discussed the New England Patriots throughout a nine-game winning streak, but Cam Newton called his old team “fool’s gold” on “First Take.” Maye dismissed the comments, saying he didn’t even know where Newton made them, before Smith called the quarterback a “liar.”
“‘First Take’ is the number one morning show, 13 years and counting,” Smith said last Thursday. “April will be 14 years. Don’t tell me you (are) an athlete and you don’t know that. Don’t tell me you an athlete and you don’t know that Cam Newton is on this show. You lying.”
Maye declined the opportunity to push back when asked about Smith on Monday’s weekly “WEEI Afternoons” interview.
“I’m just worried about what people do in our building and organization, and people that I hold a lot of personal relationships with on their opinions, and value that,” Maye said, via WEEI’s Tom Carroll. “So all that outside stuff, it is what it is. Just got to be careful about what I say, and didn’t try to mean it disrespectfully.”
Mike Vrabel wasn’t as diplomatic when asked about Smith on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill.” The head coach joked that the TVs in the team’s weight room might not work before questioning Smith’s claim that “First Take” is the No. 1 sports show.
“Is it?” Vrabel asked. “I find that hard to believe. I find that hard to believe. It’s not the SportsCenter that I grew up with.”
Smith apologized on Friday, explaining that he was being “facetious” when he called Maye a liar.
