The NFL still treats black quarterbacks differently

August 2, 2022

by Steve Thomas

Trust me, I’m not a person who sees racism in every day to day circumstance; in fact, I’m usually the person who presents data to combat baseless allegations.  I think Critical Race Theory is a pile of junk born from socialism that is corrupting children and otherwise decent people, without a basis in fact or reality.  I think Collin Kaepernick is a lying hypocrite, not some sort of oppressed anti-hero.  The point is, I’m not one to bring these types of allegations lightly.  In the case of NFL quarterbacks, though, I think some – not necessarily all – African-American quarterbacks are treated differently than others, even in 2022.  Allow me to explain.

First, a bit of history.  No one should dispute that, in its earlier days, NFL teams openly discriminated against African-Americans, which allowed very, very few to become quarterbacks.  Dating back to the start of the Super Bowl era, the first African-American quarterback to start in the NFL was Marlin Briscoe, who played for the Denver Broncos, Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, Detroit Lions, San Diego Chargers, and New England Patriots from 1968 to 1976.  There were a small handful of others throughout the 1970s, such as James Harris, Joe Gilliam, J.J. Jones, and others, but the first of major renown was Washington Redskins legend Doug Williams, who began his career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, moved to Washington in 1986, and started and won the 1987 Super Bowl. Warren Moon was also from this era.  He played in the CFL from 1978 to 1983, but came to the Houston Oilers in 1984.  Moon stayed with Houston until 1993, then spent time with the Vikings, Seahawks, and Chiefs until retiring in 2000, and was selected to 9 Pro Bowls.  Randall Cunningham played during this same time.  He was drafted by the Eagles in 1985 but spent time with the Vikings, Cowboys, and Ravens, and was a 3x All Pro selection.  Many others followed since then, including but not limited to hall of famer Warren Moon, the late Steve McNair, who was tragically murdered in 2009, Kordell Stewart, Michael Vick, and league MVP Cam Newton, as well as quarterbacks of today such as Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, and Kyler Murray.

In no way am I suggesting that today’s NFL is some sort of evil, racist conspiracy.  Nobody should feel sorry for people who are making millions of dollars and becoming celebrities by playing a kid’s game on a national stage.  No active NFL player is oppressed in any way.  That having been said, though, I can’t shake the notion that, even today, in 2022, the expectations for African-American quarterbacks are sometimes different than those of white quarterbacks.

I’m not going to go through each individual player’s history, but allow me to give some examples.  Remember the widespread belief and talk about Kordell Stewart back in the 90s and early 2000s?  He was “Slash” – known as a runner who couldn’t possibly be a good traditional NFL quarterback, even though his stats were good and, in my view at least, his performance on the field was starter-worthy.  Fast forward to Lamar Jackson’s treatment in the 2018 pre-draft process.  Read the comments about Jackson, the 2019 league MVP, by former Indianapolis Colts team president Bill Polian, and quoted in Bleacher Report:

Short and a little bit slight,” Polian said of the Louisville product. “Clearly, clearly not the thrower that the other guys are. The accuracy isn’t there.”

Polian felt that Jackson would be better off as a receiver:

“I think wide receiver. Exceptional athlete, exceptional ability to make you miss, exceptional acceleration, exceptional instinct with the ball in his hand and that’s rare for wide receivers. That’s [Antonio Brown], and who else? Name me another one, Julio [Jones is] not even like that.”

I heard Polian on the Mike & Mike in the Morning Radio show on ESPN Radio say something very similar around that time.  Granted, Jackson is a non-traditional talent with elite running ability, but not an NFL quarterback at all?  And short?  Jackson is listed at 6’2”.  I watched a good bit of Jackson’s collegiate film, and saw a quarterback who could progress through reads in a pro-style offense run by a former NFL coach.  Jackson did rack up a large amount of rushing yards, but it was mostly off of scripted plays, not through Jackson free-lancing.  Jackson also had terrible receivers who constantly dropped balls.  The point is that while Jackson isn’t the stereotypical pocket passer, and his pocket accuracy isn’t at the level of some of the league’s best, the idea that he wasn’t an NFL quarterback at all was always absurd.  Why would Polian – and he wasn’t the only one – harbor this opinion?

It is my view that many NFL talent evaluators have a tendency to view African-American quarterbacks as athletes first and quarterback second, simply because of their race.  Think back to Johnny Manziel in 2014 – forget about the fact that he was a drug abusing, punk rich kid who didn’t seem to want to play football very much.  He actually fit Polian’s description of Jackson far better than did Jackson.  Manziel was shorter than average at 6’0”, and his college film showed him to be a player constantly going off-script and bolting without progressing through his reads at every opportunity.  Some analysts did question his passing ability; however, almost nobody – certainly very few – ever said that Manziel was an athlete first, a runner, or a receiver.

Recently, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was asked about this subject by The Athletic and had this to say, as quoted in Outkick:

In addition to Murray’s controversial contract clause, there was a recent story in The Athletic in which an anonymous NFL coordinator referred to Mahomes’ QB-style as “streetball.” Following practice Friday, Mahomes was asked if black quarterbacks are evaluated differently than white quarterbacks.

He began by saying, “I don’t want to go that far and say [I’m evaluated differently because I’m Black].”

“Obviously, the black quarterback has had to battle to be in this position that we are to have this many guys in the league playing,” the Chiefs All-Pro signal-caller continued. “Every day, we’re proving that we should have been playing the whole time. We’ve got guys that can think just as well as they can use their athleticism.

“It’s always weird when you see guys like me, Lamar [Jackson], Kyler kind of get that on them when other guys don’t,” Mahomes said. “But at the same time we’re going out there to prove ourselves every day to show we can be some of the best quarterbacks in the league.”

Recently, Moon made his thoughts known about Murray’s infamous “homework clause” in his contract extension with the Arizona Cardinals, courtesy of TMZ:

“It’s something we were always accused of back in the day when they didn’t let us play,” Moon says. “That we were lazy, that we didn’t study, that we couldn’t be leaders, that we weren’t smart. So all those different things just kind of came to surface after we put all that stuff to bed over the years and just because of this deal that’s going on between Arizona and Kyler.”

“So yeah, very embarrassing.”

I don’t necessarily agree with Moon’s analysis of the rationale behind Murray’s contract; none of us, including Moon, are inside the Cardinals’ building or in Murray’s home, so we don’t know how much study Murray does or doesn’t do or the Cardinals’ motivation behind this provision (which they subsequently removed in response to the negative media attention).  However, Moon’s perception is born out of the implicit, and sometimes overt, racism he experienced as a player, and it’s a common belief based on the league’s historic treatment of African-American quarterbacks.

In decades past, real, direct, serious discrimination was the norm in football; the Washington Redskins led the pack in that regard under their former racist owner, the late George Preston Marshall.  That isn’t occurring today, but it appears to me the league and its surrounding media media pundits sare still pre-disposed to view African-American quarterbacks as athletes first and passers second, and sometimes question their football intelligence.  This isn’t fair, or right.

That’s not always the case; for example, the late Dwayne Haskins was never seen this way, and others are in the same boat.  But now, in 2022, we should come to a point at which pre-determined stereotypes are minimal.  Take players, and people generally, as they are and give everyone an equal opportunity to prove themselves, without stereotypes.