Stephen A. Smith Blisters Lone Voter Who Snubbed Lamar Jackson for NFL MVP

The ESPN pundit assumed Josh Allen received a “homer” vote.

Being a dissenting vote in MVP award balloting can put a journalist in a difficult position. That’s even more true when that choice is the lone vote cast in opposition. 

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson was the landslide winner of the 2023 NFL MVP award, announced Thursday night at the NFL Honors ceremony in Las Vegas. Yet Jackson was not a unanimous winner, having received 49 out of 50 first-place votes in the balloting. The other vote went to Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen.

Individual voters were not identified in the balloting announcement. However, Aaron Schatz of FTN Fantasy outed himself as the person who voted for Allen. Schatz is a longtime analytics-driven writer who has worked for Football Outsiders and contributed to ESPN and The New York Times.

ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith didn’t know that Schatz was the one who didn’t give his first-place vote to Jackson on Friday’s episode of First Take. Yet he was highly critical of that single dissenting vote.

“People talk about how sportswriters shouldn’t be voting. That was a stupid homer vote by that individual, probably scared to go back in the locker room if he had voted for Josh Allen,” Smith said. 

Stephen A. Smith calls out the one voter who didn't give Lamar Jackson a first-place MVP vote.

"That was a stupid homer vote by that individual, probably scared to go back in the locker room if he had voted against Josh Allen. That compromises everything. You have to be… pic.twitter.com/nWUnofubKn

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 9, 2024

“That compromises everything,” Smith continued. “You have to be objective when you have a vote. And that writer–I don’t know who the hell it was–but that’s an embarrassment.”

Smith seemed to assume that Schatz voted for Allen because he covers the Bills or lives in Buffalo. Schatz doesn’t cover the Bills, nor has he covered the Bills for any of the outlets that employ him. He lives in Massachusetts, for what that’s worth. 

Yet the accusation of making a homer pick is an easy one to make among the media. Baseball, in particular, has seen some notorious votes from reporters preferring a player they cover. 

For example, in the balloting for the 2007 American League MVP, the two writers who didn’t vote for Alex Rodriguez were both from the Detroit area and preferred Magglio Ordóñez. In 2020, MLB.com Yankees beat writer Bryan Hoch cast his vote for DJ LaMahieu when the majority of ballots favored Jose Abreu or Jose Ramirez. 

Smith obviously can disagree with Schatz’s vote. So did 49 other NFL MVP voters, along with many other NFL fans and media. However, assuming a voter’s motivations for a dissenting ballot is unfair–even if it made for a spicy quote–especially when Smith didn’t have all the details.