Bears make head-turning release with defensive player prior to Saints game
It's been a bit unusual to see the Chicago Bears make any drastic cuts and releases before games this season, but they made one that might show their hand against the New Orleans Saints.
The team announced that they have released defensive lineman Tanoh Kpassagnon. In four games with the team, Kpassagnon has racked up five tackles, two quarterback hits, one tackle for loss, and one sack.
Kpassagnon had picked up some playing time during the season with some of the key injuries on the defensive line. Guys like Grady Jarrett and Austin Booker missed time, which opened the door for Kpassagnon to play.
What the move could mean for the Bears coming up against the Saints
The number one thing that comes to everyone's mind is that Booker might actually finally play in a game. His 21-day practice window was opened last week after starting the season on IR. Despite practicing all last week, he was not active for the Washington Commanders game.
This could finally be Booker's chance to play and find his way onto the field for the first time. He will be a rotational player, but if he can carry over the four-sack performance he had in two preseason games, he could be dangerous for Chicago.
Kpassagnon will most likely find his way back onto the team as the Bears will look to bring him back as a practice squad member either before or after the Saints game. Chicago values his play and doesn't want him to sign elsewhere.
Stephen A. Smith Admits He “Went Too Far” in Serena Williams Comment
"I should not have said it this way, I'll concede that."
Apparently, there is a way to get Stephen A Smith to unwind his takes.
All the way back in February, after the Super Bowl, Smith made an offhand comment on First Take, giving the verbal equivalent of a side-eye to retired tennis legend Serena Williams, who appeared during the halftime show alongside rapper Kendrick Lamar. Atop the shared Compton heritage of both Williams and Lamar, many fans connected the dots that Williams specifically appeared during the hit beef track “Not Like Us” to throw dirt on the grave of Drake, Lamar’s opponent in a long-lasting beef, and Williams’ supposed ex.
Referencing this dynamic on First Take, Smith tossed out that if he were married to Williams, he would tell her to “go back to his a**.”
When Williams’ real-life husband appeared on the show this week to promote an event, he addressed the comments with Smith.
“I think you had some marriage advice for me, is that right?” Ohanian said to Smith, who was hosting the show remotely.
Smith was caught off guard in the moment, but he addressed the situation more fully in an interview on
“I should not have said it this way, I’ll concede that. But going to commercial, joking around, I said, ‘Take your a** back to him,'” Smith said.
“All I was saying is as men, if I’m married, if my wife got the energy and the fervor to show up in Super Bowl Sunday and go out onstage specifically to dance off of a song that’s disrespecting her ex, my question would be, ‘What’s that energy about?’ You’re supposed to be happy with me.”
Smith also said that if he had been in the room with Ohanian, he would have owned his mistake and apologized.
“I don’t think that he’s wrong for taking it differently,” he explained. “And to his face, I would have said to him what I just said … and I would own that and I would apologize.”
Further detailing that he aimed to relate to the audience and express shock that Williams so comfortably addressed an old ex, Smith also delivered an apology to Williams.
“I’m not casting aspersions on Serena Williams in any way, and I apologize to her as well,” Smith added. “I didn’t mean it the way it was taken, I was just speaking from a man’s perspective.”
After apologizing, Smith issued a plea to the audience and anyone who comes across his content not to be so disingenuous about these types of comments. Smith believes that the average person likely understood his point and did not receive it as personal toward Williams or Ohanian. While he still owed the couple an apology, he said he speaks with plenty of people privately after viral comments who agree with him but do not defend him.
The incident blew over quickly, both in February and again this week. So it is not as if this will be the one-off line that dooms Smith’s career.
However, he does have a point that audiences appear more eager than ever to strip context away when it comes to a commentator’s history or the broader conversation within a show. Being one of the more prolific hosts in media, Smith makes his fair share of mistakes. But he is also very susceptible to soundbites and viral clips that can snowball beyond his intention.
