Stephen A Smith aims thinly-veiled dig at ESPN in jealousy-fueled rant over Pat McAfee comparisons

Stephen A. Smith has claimed Pat McAfee is operating on a different set of rules at ESPN after rivaling him as the network's biggest star.

Smith agreed to a new five-year, $100 million contract with ESPN last year, paying him around $20M a year, up from around $12M on his previous deal.

But McAfee has also earned a fortune and been an increasingly prominent figure on the network since he took 'The Pat McAfee Show' to the network in 2023 in a $30M-a-year deal that requires McAfee to pay his own staffing and production costs.

McAfee is set for an increased role this year as part of ESPN's Monday Night Countdown and is also in talks over a new deal paying him more than $60M-a-year, according to The Athletic. 

And Stephen A. Smith has ranted over the different treatment McAfee receives compared to him.  

'Pat McAfee has a level of independence I've never had,' Smith told Front Office Sports. 

'He owns his own platforms. He leases that to ESPN. I'm employed by ESPN because ESPN owns First Take. I don't own First Take, they do.

'He just leases his show to ESPN; We work for ESPN. And so that's not to imply that Pat is not a part of the team because he's on ESPN's airwaves. 

But there's a different set of rules that we're obligated and culpable and attached to that he's not.

'When people talk about that, they're just missing the boat. They don't get the fact that he doesn't work for us. You see, he works for himself. And that's a testament to him.'

Smith admitted he does get a degree of power not afforded to most within the industry - but suggested McAfee is on an entirely different level.  

'I do have freedoms that the average person doesn't have in this business, and I get that part,' Smith said. 

'And there's a lot of things that I can do because I negotiated the contractual right to do them; the reality is that's an entirely different world than Pat McAfee.'

'Pat McAfee, when he says he's his own boss, he truly is his own boss.'

ESPN has faced plenty of attention after several rounds of layoffs while simultaneously handing the likes of Smith and McAfee massive contracts.

McAfee was recently forced to address that narrative head-on after J.J. Watt joked about it when appearing on his show.

'I would like to let you know… don't be reading the internet like that, OK? You're smarter,' McAfee said. 'That is the narrative and I am certainly taking it on the shins. The boys and I are very proud of the work that we have done.'

He went on to say that it was 'terrible' that people lost their jobs, with the likes of Ryan Clark, Cam Newton and Karl Ravech among those let go.  

'I mean, there's billions and billions of dollars in these companies, and hard decisions have to get made. And we don't like any of them, and we hope we're an asset to the company going forward,' McAfee added.

'We hate any time this happens. Obviously this is terrible. We don't like that. But we are very honored that we are still partnered with ESPN and Disney for the good of sport and the future.'