Stephen A. Smith has been one of coach Kliff Kingsbury and the Arizona Cardinals’ most vocal critics since Kingsbury was hired before the 2019 season.

On multiple occasions, the ESPN personality has slammed the coach and his hire by the organization.

So, it was interesting to hear Smith kind of compliment Kingsbury on ESPN’s First Take on Wednesday.

Why do we say “kind of” compliment? Well, Smith couldn’t resist getting in some more jabs at Kingsbury in the process.

“I think Arizona is going in a forward direction,” Smith said. “I’m even willing to give Kliff Kingsbury credit, even though he didn’t deserve the job because his resume didn’t warrant him getting the job, but it doesn’t negate the fact that thus far this season they are 2-0. It doesn’t negate the fact that in all likelihood they could end up being 5-0 before we really start paying attention to them because they’ve got Detroit, Carolina without Christian McCaffrey coming up, and then after that the New York Jets. If that ain’t a recipe for starting off 5-0, I don’t know what it is. They better be 5-0.”

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Smith’s comments came during a segment discussing whether Kyler Murray was an elite player in the NFL right now.

Smith doesn’t think he is, but Max Kellerman, who appears on the show with Smith, disagreed, calling the Cardinals quarterback a Top 10 player in the league right now.

Cardinals fans will probably take any apparent compliment or praise they can get from Smith, no matter how small.

His comments Wednesday represent a huge shift from some of his previous remarks about the team.

Last month, the ESPN personality questioned the Cardinals’ ability to compete in their division in 2020 on his show.

“I see Arizona as third place or last place,” he said. “That’s the best you can do. Seattle, San Francisco and the Los Angeles Rams are in their division? And they are going to contend, contend for what? For what exactly? I mean please. There’s nothing to think about here.”

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In April, Smith ranted about Kingsbury and whether or not he was the right coach for Murray on SportsCenter.

“Hell yes, I do (have reservations),” Smith said, via 247 Sports. “(Because of) his coach. That’s really very, very simple. We know what Kyler Murray can do. He’s a dynamic quarterback, even though he’s miniature in height. He can run with the football — he ran for about 544 yards last season, he threw for 3,722 yards, he completed 64.4 percent of his passes. We know what he’s capable of, based on that alone.

“The problem is he has a head coach, in all due respect, who never deserved a head coaching job in Arizona. I know nothing of Kliff Kingsbury, but I do know something about his resume. Six complete seasons as head coach at Texas Tech. Four losing seasons. His last three years there — losing seasons. Went to three bowl games. Hasn’t had a winning season, as a coach, since 2016. That was at Texas Tech, where his overall record was 35-40. Would you mind telling me how in the hell this man ever became a head coach in the National Football League? That’s the reality of the situation.”

In January of 2019, Smith criticized the Cardinals’ hire of Kingsbury, saying he looked more like a candidate for “The Bachelor” than an NFL coach.

“Was Kingsbury’s team that won the national championship this Monday instead of Dabo Swinney’s?” he said in a rant on his radio show. “Was that his team? Am I missing something? I don’t understand … The man didn’t even have a .500 record at Texas Tech. He got an offensive coordinator job at USC, and before he had a chance to take a leak, this brother’s got a head coaching job in the National Football League.

“I mean what the hell is going on … OK, OK he’s photogenic. The ladies will love Mr. Kliff Kingsbury, I mean let’s stop the presses right now, the ladies are going to be all over the place drooling over Kliff Kingsbury. He’s photogenic. In some people’s eyes he looks like a model. I my personal opinion he looks like he belongs on The Bachelor. Here’s the problem, he looks like he belongs on the Bachelor more than he belongs on the sidelines as a head coach for a National Football League team. You gotta be kidding me …”

The rant was accompanied by a tweet: “This DUDE Kliff Kingsbury looks like a better candidate to be on the BACHELOR than a head coach of a football team, DAMNIT!”

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Smith isn’t the only vocal ESPN critic of the Cardinals and Kingsbury to appear to change their tune on the team after its 2-0 start, at least a little bit.

Earlier this week, Rex Ryan raved about Murray and the Cardinals on ESPN’s Get Up!

“He protects himself,” Ryan said of Murray on the show. “I’ve never seen a guy take less hits. As soon as he scrambles, don’t worry about it Arizona Cardinals fans, he’s not going to get hurt. He does not get touched. He either slides on the ground as a great baseball player, he gets out of bounds or he sticks it in the end zone. You are not touching him. Remember in college, we said, ‘this kid never gets tackled.’ Now he’s not even getting touched. To me, I’ve seen this one other time when I think about all these players. I think it’s Michael Vick but he throws the ball better. To me, that was it, the way Vick burst onto the scene, that’s the way this kid is now.”

Those comments are very different from comments Ryan made before the Cardinals faced the Detroit Lions in the first game of the 2019 season.

The former New York Jets and Buffalo Bills coach called the Cardinals’ system “boring” while saying the team would get “whipped” in their Week 1 game against the Detroit Lions last season (the game ended in a tie).

“Basketball on grass. It’s so boring watching all this stuff right there,” Ryan said at the time. “Come on, college football. I hope it gets smoked, also. I really do, because I think it’s so boring…. Kingsbury says ‘wait till Week 1.’ Oh, I can’t wait to see Week 1.”

He continued: “They’re going to get whipped Week 1. Look, this guy … everyone talks about this great offense and all that. Yeah, if it’s fantasy football and you want points yardage, that’s great. How about wins?

“Kingsbury, let’s face it, had the best player in our league [at Texas Tech], he was 13-16 with Pat Mahomes at quarterback. How about you worry about wins?”

Ryan also said at that time that he thought opposing defenses would be able to shut down Murray and the Cardinals’ offense.

“That open-edge pressure, you’re going to see it all day long,” he said. “Teams are going to keep doing it. Their answer is the quick, little hits, screen or slant. Well, guess what? The DBs are going to know that. They’re going to be sitting on these guys, they’re going to challenge them, get in the face of these receivers, and they’re in for a long season. They better get that running game going, or they’re gonna get run out of town.”

Interestingly, the Cardinals used clips from Ryan and Smith criticizing the team in a hype video before the 2020 season, apparently using those comments as motivation for this year.

Ryan’s remarks about Murray weren’t the only recent compliment he had for the Cardinals.

Before Week 2, he apparently praised Kingsbury for Larry Fitzgerald’s late catch in the first half of Week 1 that allowed Arizona to get a big field goal in the win against the San Francisco 49ers.

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if you are worried about the Cardinals suddenly receiving too much praise, don’t be.

There are still a lot of skeptics of Murray, Kingsbury and the Cardinals out there, including another ESPN analyst.

Earlier this week on the Keyshawn, JWill & Zubin Show, Keyshawn Johnson had this to say about Arizona and its 2-0 start:

“No, they are not (real),” Johnson said on ESPN radio. “They are a 6-7 game win type team, even though they got two under their belt already. I like the fact that their offense is high octane, explosive, but when you look at the time of possession on this team, it certainly makes me scratch my head.”

He continued:

“I like Kyler Murray within this system. OK, I like what he does within the system. Long term I don’t think the Arizona Cardinals are made for the NFL, to make a run, because when you start running up against the Rams and Aaron Donald and Jalen Ramsey against DeAndre Hopkins and you take that weapon away or you start running up against Russell Wilson and Seattle or some of these other teams that you’ve got to face that have a little more ‘umph’ on the defensive side of the ball, we’ll certainly see,” he said.

“Now, it took Kyler Murray to the end of that game against the San Francisco 49ers to pull a Houdini act to score a touchdown for them to win. In Week 1. And then they play Washington. Stop man, stop.”

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