Black QBs in the NFL

[CP87]

For over half of the Super Bowl era in the NFL, decision makers believed that black QBs were not capable of leading teams and being successful. This is abundantly clear from the history of black QBs starting in the NFL:

2 in the 60s (Super Bowl era began in 1967...the first black starting QB, Marlin Briscoe, was a WR converted to QB due to injury)
7 in the 70s
8 in the 80s
16 in the 90s
35 in the 00s
33 in the 10s
31 thus far in the 2020s

Doug Williams became the first black QB to start a Super Bowl in 1988 (Super Bowl XXII). So, the first 42 QBs to start a Super Bowl were white. This didn't lead to a sea-change...after Williams, over the next 21 Super Bowls, there were 2 black QBs (Steve McNair in 1999, Donovan McNabb in 2004) and 40 white QBs.

Last year, 15 of 32 teams had a black starting QB.

Over the last 10 Super Bowls and 20 starting QBs, 8 have been black, and 12 have been white. Both starting QBs have been black 2 of the last 3 years (Hurts and Mahomes).

Of the last 10 NFL MVPs (all QBs), 5 have been black (Cam Newton, Lamar Jackson 2x, Patrick Mahomes 2x), and 5 have been white (Matt Ryan, Aaron Rodgers 2x, Josh Allen).

From 1967 to 1998, there were a total of 3 black QBs drafted in the first round of the NFL draft. Three of the top 5 QBs in the draft last year were black (including the top 2), and 3 of the top 5 in this year's draft are expected to be black (including the top 2).

Why present this information?

It is interesting that something that 40 years ago everyone who made decisions in the NFL so clearly assumed to be true, was so clearly not true. Black football players have not undergone some miraculous genetic evolution over the last 40 years that all of a sudden made them capable of playing QB...they just gradually (very gradually) got more opportunities, leading us to today.

I don't know what to make of this, other than I was thinking about it today, and I found it interesting. We think of sports as being the ultimate meritocracy, but that is not always true.

There was never any affirmative action to bring about the increased opportunities for black QBs, it just happened over time as teams tried to improve their chances of winning. What would have happened if there was NFL QB affirmative action in the 70s? Warren Moon wouldn't have had to start in Canada, more black QBs would have gotten a chance, and maybe this change happens sooner. However, maybe it leads those NFL decision makers into becoming even more entrenched in their thinking, and the evolution doesn't speed up at all, or is even set back.

If nothing else, hopefully it is a reminder for all of us to be humble with regard to those things we believe are true. In the 60s, 70s, and 80s, people believed black QBs couldn't lead teams because they had never seen it, but they also weren't willing to test that hypothesis. When it was tested, they analyzed the results through a biased lens, drawing the wrong conclusions. This is likely true of many of the things each of us believe today. Keep asking questions, keep testing hypotheses, keep questioning assumptions, go where the information leads you (even if it contradicts your biases), but always keep an open mind that the information can change.

p.s. - my brain started down this path today when I saw a guy with an Eagles shirt in class this morning, and I got to thinking about how many of my friends growing up liked the Eagles solely because of Randall Cunningham. Side by side with Bo Jackson for the best Techmo Super Bowl (original NES) player of all time.

 

[Fryowa]

Are we counting Patrick Mahomes as black? His mom is white. Not trying to antagonize, but if someone is 50% white and 50% black, where do you draw that line? Wouldn’t he be just as white as he is black?

Honest, curious question. Same thing with Tiger Woods. His mother is Asian.

For clarity, I agree with the premise of your post.

 

[CP87]

Are we counting Patrick Mahomes as black? His mom is white. Not trying to antagonize, but if someone is 50% white and 50% black, where do you draw that line? Wouldn’t he be just as white as he is black?

Honest, curious question. Same thing with Tiger Woods. His mother is Asian.

For clarity, I agree with the premise of your post.

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I have a colleague who is multiracial (black father, white mother). I didn't know this for several years, as he describes it, he is "white presenting." That is, he looks more like his mom. So, he gets treated like a white person. A person with a similar background who happens to look more like the black parent (black presenting) gets treated like a black person. He has a unique perspective on how skin color affects how others look at a person, and I think he would argue that it doesn't matter your specific genetic background, but rather how people perceive you.

In that sense, I would guess most would perceive Patrick Mahomes as black, but I am not really sure.

I remember watching his dad with the Twins, and apparently he was a Hell of an all-around athlete (offers to play collegiately in FB, basketball, and baseball). Didn't the Twins use him as a pinch-runner on occasion?

 

[Fryowa]

I remember watching his dad with the Twins, and apparently he was a Hell of an all-around athlete (offers to play collegiately in FB, basketball, and baseball). Didn't the Twins use him as a pinch-runner on occasion?

He was actually a pretty good hitter for a pitcher. The last few years of his career he played in the NL so he had to bat, I looked and in '99 & '00 he had 33 ABs with 9 hits, 4 of them doubles. I don't care what position you play, anyone who can hit major league pitching and leg out a few doubles is a hell of an athlete.

Pat Mahomes Sr. Does it All in Electrifying Win

8/1/99: Pat Mahomes Sr. drives in the game-winning run in the top of the 13th, then records the win with a strikeout of his own to end the game. Check out ht...

www.youtube.com

 

[CP87]

He was actually a pretty good hitter for a pitcher. The last few years of his career he played in the NL so he had to bat, I looked and in '99 & '00 he had 33 ABs with 9 hits, 4 of them doubles. I don't care what position you play, anyone who can hit major league pitching and leg out a few doubles is a hell of an athlete.

Pat Mahomes Sr. Does it All in Electrifying Win

8/1/99: Pat Mahomes Sr. drives in the game-winning run in the top of the 13th, then records the win with a strikeout of his own to end the game. Check out ht...

www.youtube.com

According to wikipedia, he was an all-state QB in high school in Texas, and he scored 30 ppg in his senior year of basketball.

You are a Twins fan, right? Who are your top 3 pitchers of your Twins fandom (your favorites, not necessarily the best)?

 

[trj]

I have a colleague who is multiracial (black father, white mother). I didn't know this for several years, as he describes it, he is "white presenting." That is, he looks more like his mom. So, he gets treated like a white person. A person with a similar background who happens to look more like the black parent (black presenting) gets treated like a black person. He has a unique perspective on how skin color affects how others look at a person, and I think he would argue that it doesn't matter your specific genetic background, but rather how people perceive you.

In that sense, I would guess most would perceive Patrick Mahomes as black, but I am not really sure.

I remember watching his dad with the Twins, and apparently he was a Hell of an all-around athlete (offers to play collegiately in FB, basketball, and baseball). Didn't the Twins use him as a pinch-runner on occasion?

Your post did make me think of famous people who are biracial, and how we perceive them in regards to race. I came up with the following list off the top of my head:

Derek Jeter
Lenny Kravitz
Halle Berry
Rashida Jones
Mya Rudolph
Barrack Obama

Of those 6 people, I would say Derek Jeter would be “colorless”. But even he has talked about growing up in Michigan, and how white people saw him as black, and black people saw him as white.