Ryan Clark walks off First Take set during Bill Belichick segment

Patriots

Clark later posted a screenshot of the interaction on his instagram page.

ESPN’s Ryan Clark walked away from the cameras and stuck his head out behind a wall during a recent segment of the network’s popular “First Take” show.

Stephen A. Smith and Chris “Mad Dog” Russo were criticizing Belichick’s handling of his “CBS Sunday Morning” interview, which his girlfriend Jordon Hudson reportedly interrupted multiple times.

“Nobody cares about how you figured the formula to decide and come up the NFL corporate ladder,” Russo said. “Because you know what? The only thing that saved you in the NFL corporate ladder was [Tom] Brady. Without Brady, you’ve got one playoff ring and you wouldn’t be writing any books. That’s calling it like we see it.”

Chris Russo and Stephen A. Smith rip Bill Belichick’s book tour

“You’re a grown man…you spent 20 years not answering questions you didn’t want to answer. We don’t need somebody else telling us you’re not answering something.” – SAS

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— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing.bsky.social) April 30, 2025 at 11:42 AM

Russo called the interview “a disgrace” and blasted Belichick for dodging certain questions.

“Bill went out of his way, and I know because I followed it and I was here when he was with the Giants, for 25 years of being a louse to the media,” Russo said. “Never answered any questions. You ask him a tough question after a loss, he mumbled and never gave you an answer. He wasn’t Mr. Congeniality.”

“And now, all of a sudden, he needs the media to sell a book and he’s going to tell the media, book interviewers, what to ask him and what to focus in on on a dopey book. You want to read 269 pages of Bill Belichick? No thank you. That is a disgrace. You write the book, do the interview, and if they want to ask about Malcolm Butler for 20 minutes, deal with it.”

Smith agreed with Russo, saying the radio personalty was “100 percent right.” Hudson told the CBS interviewer that Belichick would not answer a question about how she and the coach met.

“We certainly don’t want to see someone with you telling folks we’re not answering those questions,” Smith said.

Clark walked off after Smith’s comments. Smith and Russo laughed. Molly Querim said she had nothing to add.

“You’re a grown man,” Smith said about Belichick as Clark poked his head from behind the wall. “If somebody asks you a question and you don’t want to answer it, don’t answer it. You spent 20 years not answering questions you didn’t want to answer. We don’t need somebody else telling us you’re not answering something.”

In addition to his ESPN duties, Clark is a co-host of The CW’s “Inside the NFL” where Belichick was an analyst last fall. Clark dressed up as Belichick for Halloween during an episode of the show.

Clark walked back onto the First Take set when Smith’s comments were finished. He later posted a screenshot of the interaction on his Instagram page.

The caption read: “If I send you this it means…I ain’t no snitch. Don’t ask me nothing.”