Abdul Carter had to know he’d irritate some people by asking if he could wear Lawrence Taylor’s No. 56 with the Giants, and Stephen A. Smith happens to be one of those people.
Upon being drafted by New York, the former Penn State DE requested to wear LT’s number, which has been retired since 1994.
Taylor declined the request.
For Stephen A., the request never should have happened.
‘SHAMEFUL’
Photo by Matt Lynch, Nittany Sports Now
When Smith was asked on First Take if he had a problem with Carter asking if he could wear 56, he gave a blunt answer.
“Of course I do,” he said. “Abdul Carter, I’m quite sure, is going to be sensational on an NFL level because we’ve seen his game in college. We respect him. But he’s starting off his NFL career as maybe the most ignorant draft pick in history. This is Lawrence Taylor, my brother, that we’re talking about. We have seen the great ones throughout the years. Ray Lewis comes to my mind, along with various others. No one has been compared to Lawrence Taylor.
Interestingly enough, Smith brought up another EDGE rusher from Penn State.
“When we say Micah Parsons, we say ‘Lawrence Taylor-like.’” Smith said. “He sees, he showcases some attributes that remind you of (Taylor).”
But for Smith, nobody is Lawrence Taylor.
“Bill Belichick is an eight-time champion, a six-time champion as head coach,” he said. “There are very few things in life that have irritated him more than the thought, the notion that somebody would mention themselves or somebody else in the same breath as Lawrence Taylor, somebody he was the defensive coordinator for when they won the Super Bowl championships. This is Lawrence, this is LT. This is LT we’re talking about here. Without question, in some people’s minds, the greatest defensive player to have ever lived. A Hall of Famer. A three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year, two-time Super Bowl champion. A league MVP. Ok? Named All-Pro in each of his first 10 seasons in the National Football League. Seven straight double-digit sack seasons, 132 sacks in his career, and that’s after it became official, OK, in 1982. It’s LT!
“And before you play an NFL game, before you take an NFL snap, you’re asking to wear that number? That is shameful. Shameful!”
LT’s RESPONSE
LT’s response to Taylor’s request was a little more polite than Smith’s was.
“He has to be the player that he is,” Taylor told ESPN in a phone conversation. “He can’t be another Lawrence Taylor. Well, he may be better than a Lawrence Taylor, who knows. But he has to make his mark. It’s up to him.”
“And I’m hoping that he’s not thinking that, ‘Oh, I got shot down by LT. No, it isn’t like that, man.’ It’s, ‘Hey, I’m with you!’ I mean, I’m the guy that it takes two. I’m going to be two steps behind you and make sure you don’t fall.”
If Carter has a problem with being denied No. 56, he hasn’t expressed it publicly.
“The worst thing he could say was NO!!” Abdul Carter posted to social media. “My stance don’t change, LT is the 🐐 nothing but respect… This just gonna make me work even harder!! I love it.”
