Three Black quarterbacks made history last night. They were among the first four picks in the first round of the NFL Draft.
The Carolina Panthers chose Alabama quarterback Bryce Young at No. 1 overall, as expected, 12 years after drafting quarterback Cam Newton at that spot.
The Houston Texans, who took Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud at No. 2, and the Indianapolis Colts, who picked Florida’s Anthony Richardson at No. 4, also sought to secure the new faces of their franchises under center.
(The New York Times, April 28, 2023)
This draft stood in stark contrast to much of NFL history. Because White coaches deemed Black players not smart enough to play quarterback. They propagated this racist canard even while White college coaches were belying it. After all, Black quarterbacks were leading their college teams – even to national championships.
That’s why watching the NFL draft these three Black quarterbacks was so telling. TV cameras threw this into stark relief by focusing on the top White quarterback, Will Levis.
After all, he was sitting and waiting to hear his name called in this first round. He never heard it. How’s that for flipping the racial script?
NFL Draft and Black quarterbacks
Even so, what happened last night was anticlimactic. To point out why, I could refer you to the 2019 ESPN series, “The Year of the Black QB.” Because its subtitle alone previewed last night’s draft:
The series explores the emergence of black quarterbacks in the NFL, their growing prominence, and their present and future impact on the league.
Except that Black sports analysts were predicting their prominence long before then. But even The New Yorker, a lily-white magazine, was doing so. It did, for example, in an article titled, The Year of the Black Quarterback. The New Yorker published that in January 2014.
But I preempted all the points in that article. I did in a post decrying how Black quarterbacks were good enough for the NCAA but not the NFL. That was way back in September 2012. And I’ve been beating this drum ever since.
Talk about anticlimactic! Lest we forget, two black quarterbacks led teams to the Super Bowl earlier this year. Nothing marked the year of the Black quarterback quite like that!