Two years ago, an old feud was nearly reignited. FS1’s Undisputed thought it would be a good idea to pair former Seahawks CB Richard Sherman and Skip Bayless, despite their intense fallout on ESPN’s First Take in 2013. But they soon found out how things could escalate between the two. Debating hip drop tackles, Sherman hit out at Bayless for his lack of knowledge on the subject leading to a heated exchange. While the two had claimed earlier that they cleared the air over their infamous interaction from 12 years ago, some bad blood was there and might still exist.

It’s been a while—12 years, to be exact since Sherman tore into Skip Bayless on ESPN’s First Take. At that time, Sherman was at the peak of his powers. He led the league with 8 interceptions as he started all 16 games and made 64 combined tackles (53 solo), a career-high 24 pass deflections, a touchdown, and a sack. He received an overall grade of 94.3 from Pro Football Focus in 2012, earning his First Team All-Pro honors. But before the new season, Sherman found himself in a heated exchange live on air with Skip Bayless.

Following an innocuous question, Sherman told Bayless, “In my 24 years of life, I’m better at life than you,” and that the ESPN host had “never accomplished anything.” Now, after 12 years of that viral interview, Sherman reflects on what exactly went through his mind at that time.

Catching up with the St. Brown brothers on their podcast, Richard Sherman was asked, “What was going through his head?” referring to that Skip Bayless interview on ESPN. Sherman shared, “He had been hating for a long time, and I was just named an All-Pro. I just had eight picks out there. Damn near, you know, led the league. And he’s talking about, ‘oh, (Darrelle) Revis is this, Revis is that.’ And I’m like, I hear you, he had some good years, but I had eight interceptions this year, you better put some respect on my name.” Sherman had earned a fearless reputation from getting into Tom Brady’s face to being part of the Legion of Boom that tormented offenses. He had it all, and in a season where he became an All-Pro for the first time, he felt disrespected by some of Bayless’ observations.

Adding to his thoughts on the St. Brown podcast, Sherman said, “As I’m mic’d up for a segment and getting my earpiece in, he’s in there talking like crazy. He’s like ‘he’s not even in the same stratosphere as him (Revis), and I say like ‘Hey, let me get on this show. Like, hurry up and get me on this show. Because this man, I mean, he lost his goddamn mind.” 

In their debut episode of Undisputed in 2023, Bayless revealed that he was told by Sherman’s team that the cornerback “didn’t want to do anything controversial” during his appearance on First Take. But as it turns out, Bayless had gotten on the wrong side of Sherman even before the show began. Bayless shared his side of the story, saying,

“You [Sherman] were about to get hooked up, mic’d up audio-wise, and you had your earpiece in, but you don’t yet have your microphone,” Bayless explained. “So, my producer is frantically saying in my ear as we come on live for just a half-hour show, ‘You’ve got to vamp!’ So, I was just babbling. I don’t have a game plan. I don’t have anything. I reached for, ‘Well, Richard’s been saying that he’s already better than Darrelle Revis. I don’t see that yet. Not yet.’ At that moment, you sat down, and I think we asked you some cliché football question. Instead, you answered it by coming right at me.”

Bayless was restrained in his response at the time but in 2022, he did say that he felt “personally attacked.”

“He personally attacked me. Unrelentingly attacked me. So much for ‘please no controversy today.’ I immediately felt ambushed, bushwhacked, set up, blindsided. I was suddenly…forced to fight without fighting. I had to defend myself with both hands tied behind my back,” Bayless had said.

Over a decade, there still is that lingering resentment from Sherman’s end, at least. Two years ago, when they ended up working together for Fox Sports Undisputed, Sherman did mention he was “grateful for our moment” and that it was “positive for both of us in the end.” But the underlying tension between the two was on display again during the show.

Richard Sherman and Skip Bayless didn’t see eye to eye on Undisputed

When Richard Sherman and Bayless were put together on FS1’s Undisputed, it looked like those were finally going to get along. But it didn’t take them long to go into another heated exchange, giving us flashbacks of 2013. The two were debating about a hip-drop tackle that left Florida State’s QB Jordan Travis with a serious left leg injury. With a sensitive topic on hand, Sherman tried to interrupt Bayless as he felt he didn’t have enough knowledge to comment on it.

“I’ll let you speak, but you’re not speaking from experience, so stop raising your voice, Skip. You’re speaking on something you have no experience doing. So what point can you really make?” Sherman said. Well, seeing the two get into a heated exchange. Others on the set, like Keyshawn Johnson, kept their heads down throughout the segment. Johnson just didn’t want to get in between Sherman and Bayless, who already had a history of feuds.

Bayless didn’t back down and replied, “I’ve covered the game for a lot longer than you’ve been alive.” Hearing Bayless try to defend himself, Sherman went after him again, saying, “What we’re talking about is something that actually happens in the game that you can’t experience unless you play it.” 

Well, it will be interesting to see if Bayless chooses to respond to Sherman’s recent comments about the 2013 incident and add another twist to this tale.