Skip Bayless is taking a page out of Stephen A. Smith’s playbook

Stephen A. Smith has seen ratings on First Take grow over the past year after swapping out Max Kellerman with a cadre of opposing voices that includes Kendrick Perkins, former Sixer JJ Redick, and longtime sports talker Chris Russo.

It looks like Skip Bayless wants to mimic his former colleague’s success over on FS1.

Instead of finding one replacement for former cohost Shannon Sharpe, Bayless is using a rotating team that will include former NFL star Richard Sherman, former ESPN analyst Rachel Nichols, and rapper Lil Wayne, according to Bayless and reports from the New York Post and Sports Business Daily.

Yes, you read that correctly. Lil Wayne, New Orleans hip-hop mogul whose given name is Dwayne Michael Carter, is going to argue with Bayless about sports on television, appearing at least once a week.

“He is so deep when it comes to sports. He doesn’t yell or scream, but he does get emotional,” Bayless said on his podcast last week. “And you hang on his every word because trust me he has thought through every single word.”

Sherman’s appearances will mostly come during football season, according to the Post’s Andrew Marchand, and he’ll continue his main gig as an analyst on Amazon Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football. He’ll be in Philadelphia in a couple of weeks to cover the Eagles’ final preseason game against the Indianapolis Colts, which will stream on Amazon (and air locally on Fox 29).

The most interesting addition is Nichols, the former ESPN analyst who was dropped by the network in 2021 after a private conversation with her agent was leaked by an unidentified ESPN staffer. Post-ESPN, Nichols has landed a few gigs, including a role as a sports anchor on CNN and host at Showtime. The first interview on her new Showtime series, Headliners, was with Sixers star Joel Embiid in April, where he revealed the Sixers haven’t always been happy with all his trolling.

Other names reportedly in consideration for the rotation are former ESPN analyst Keyshawn Johnson, who was laid off last month, and NFL Hall of Famer Michael Irvin, who remains off both the NFL Network and ESPN following allegations of inappropriate conduct with a Marriott staffer at the Super Bowl. Irvin has denied wrongdoing.

Undisputed, which has been off the air since Sharpe bowed out in June, is scheduled to return Aug. 28.

As for Sharpe, there’s been chatter about him appearing on ESPN’s First Take — Smith said last month “talks are serious” — but nothing has been announced publicly.