Black quarterbacks still don’t get anywhere near the respect they deserve in the NFL. That’s just the way it’s always gone.
There are always unfair and harsher criticisms levied toward them. For example, Justin Fields’ work ethic was being called into question ahead of the draft without reason. He’d done nothing but be special at Ohio State, but still ran into criticism that had nothing to do with his production on the field.
It’s happened too many times to count with the Ravens’ Lamar Jackson, too, most recently with some cowardly defensive coordinator anonymously spouting nonsense ahead of training camp.
We also just saw it with Patrick Mahomes — maybe the best quarterback in the NFL. He’s a Super Bowl champion and an MVP. He’s had perhaps the best start to a career of any quarterback ever. Yet, still, an anonymous defensive coordinator called him nothing but a “streetball” quarterback and said he struggles when he makes it past his first read.
That’s objectively untrue. We have years of visual evidence saying otherwise. Yet, here we are, talking about it because it’s been unfairly placed on Mahomes. This is the sort of thing Black quarterbacks run up against all the time.
Mahomes knows it. And he called it out, too. During a press conference, he was asked whether he feels like he’s evaluated differently because he’s a Black quarterback.
Here’s what he had to say.
Asked #Chiefs Patrick Mahomes if he feels he's evaluated differently because he's a black quarterback.
Mahomes' response: pic.twitter.com/0fgs3hV4o2
— Aaron Ladd (@aaronladd0) July 29, 2022
“I don’t want to go that far and say that. 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 … 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. 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.”
It’s great that Mahomes is pointing this out. It’s true — it does get weird when we talk about Black quarterbacks.
Folks claim the NFL has caught up to Lamar Jackson so much that it’s become an annual signifier of the preseason. Kyler Murray has been the Cardinals’ best quarterback since Kurt Warner played in the Super Bowl with them, but his study habits are a apparently problem.
Black quarterbacks are consistently treated as one-trick ponies that will be “figured out” in just a matter of time. And once they’re figured out? The jig is up. They’re not good anymore. They’re never good enough.
But, really, it never matters how good you are. Mahomes has made it to the AFC Championship game four consecutive years and is still being called a “streetball” quarterback. That’s ridiculous.
This is why what Mahomes said is good. It’s necessary and it’s accurate. It’s the best quarterback in the league calling out this ridiculous behavior — some of it is done subconsciously, but a lot of it is intentional.
That’s why it’d also help if Mahomes took this a step further. The Chiefs’ quarterback said he doesn’t want to “go that far” in saying that Black quarterbacks are evaluated differently because they’re Black, but that’s very clearly the case here.
We don’t hear this about their white counterparts. No one would’ve ever said this about Tom Brady. Josh Allen struggled for his first 2 years in the league, but no one called him a one-read quarterback. They gave him all the time in the world to improve and now he’s a star.
That patience is a luxury that hasn’t traditionally been applied to Black quarterbacks. And there’s no obvious reason for that outside of them being Black.
So, yes. It’s great that Mahomes said this. And he should say more. There would be nothing controversial or wrong about him taking it “that far,” and saying what things really are. It’s not just “weird.” It’s racist.
It’s unfair that he’s the one who has to deliver that message when he surely wants to focus on football and not create controversies that might be a “distraction.” White quarterbacks don’t have to deal with this sort of thing, and that’s unfair.
But Mahomes has endured unfair treatment all along and obliterated every barrier.
We don’t know if things will change if Patrick Mahomes speaks out, but we do know this much: They definitely aren’t going to if he and others in his position continue taking the high road.
They’ve worked diligently and patiently for so long, aiming to “prove” themselves, and so little has changed.
