Three Black Quarterbacks Top NFL Draft – Make History

Three Black quarterbacks made history at this year’s NFL Draft. 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.

This stood in stark contrast to much of NFL history. Because White coaches deemed Black players not smart enough to play quarterback. And they propagated this racist canard even while White college coaches were belying it. This, by having Black quarterbacks lead their teams – even to national championships.

That’s why it was so telling to watch the NFL draft these three Black quarterbacks. Not least because TV cameras kept panning to the top White quarterback, Will Levis.

After all, he was sitting and waiting to hear his name called in this first round. It wasn’t called. How’s that for flipping the racial script!

NFL Draft and Black quarterbacks

To be fair, though, 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: be drafting 32 QBs.”

The series explores the emergence of black quarterbacks in the NFL, their growing prominence, and the 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 so in the blog post titled, “Black Quarterbacks: Good Enough for the NCAA, but Not the NFL?” I published that in September 2012.

What’s more, though, I’ve been beating this drum ever since. In fact, I saw that article in The New Yorker and raised it with one on my blog title, “NFL: The Year of the Black Quarterback.” And I published that in December 2019.

Even so, talk about anticlimactic! Lest we forget, two Black quarterbacks led teams to the Super Bowl earlier this year. I commented in “Black Quarterbacks Mahomes and Hurts Are in the Super Bowl. But Black QBs Should Have Been There Decades Ago. Clearly, nothing marked The Year of the Black QB quite like that!

Written by Anthony L. Hall , The iPINIONS

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