Black quarterbacks of the NFL

Once a ‘whites only’ position, today there are 15 starting QBs of color in the league

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The current list of Black men playing the cherished position of quarterback in the National Football League is one of distinction. Currently there are 15 starting quarterbacks of color in the NFL. At the top of the list is Patrick Mahomes, a three-time Super Bowl champion signal caller who is attempting to lead his two-time defending champion Kansas City Chiefs to an unprecedented three-peat — something that has never been done in NFL history.

Chasing such a lofty goal is a daunting task, even for someone as talented as Mahomes. But he has already publicly said, “My team is going to pull off the three-peat.” Bold words to live up to, but Mahomes feels comfortable putting the challenge out there for all the other teams in the NFL. He added, “We have the chance to be the first NFL team to ever win three straight Super Bowl titles. That would put us in a class all by ourselves. And that is a challenge that my teammates and I are willing to take on.”

Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs PHOTO: ALL PRO REELS

The list of young Black quarterbacks willing to accept the Mahomes challenge include Heisman Trophy winners Lamar Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens and Kyler Murray of the Arizona Cardinals, Caleb Williams of the Chicago Bears, and Jaylen Daniels of the Washington Commanders, who won the award last year. Bryce Young of the Carolina Panthers, a 2021 Heisman trophy winner at Alabama, was recently demoted from his starting spot with the Carolina Panthers.

The rest of the group is as varied as their skill level. Jacoby Brissett of the New England Patriots and Tua Tagaviloa of the Miami Dolphins represent the AFC East. Jalen Hurts of the Philadelphia Eagles and Dak Prescott of the Dallas Cowboys are in the NFC East. Deshawn Watson of the Cleveland Browns and Justin Fields of the Pittsburgh Steelers join Lamar Jackson in the AFC North. C.J. Stroud of the Houston Texans and Anthony Richardson of the Indianapolis Colts are in the AFC South. Jordan Love of the Green Bay Packers is in the NFC North while Geno Smith of the Seattle Seahawks is out west. Among this group, rookies Williams and Daniels enter their rookie campaigns as the No. 1 and No. 2 picks of the college football draft — a first in National Football League history.

They paved the way

There are other Black men who have played quarterback in the NFL since Fritz Pollard became the first African American player/owner back in the 1920s. Men like Warren Moon of the Houston Oilers and Steve McNair of the Tennessee Titans put together Hall of Fame resumes while advancing the Black quarterback movement.

Moon was a magnificent talent who had to excel in the Canadian Football League (Grey Cup Championships with the Edmonton Eskimos) before he got his chance to play in the NFL. “I had to go to Canada to be able to play quarterback,” he said. “After winning Grey Cup titles and Most Valuable Player awards, I had proven to a lot of doubters that I was the real deal. But it was never an easy journey.”

The same can be said for the late Steve McNair, who quarterbacked the Titans to a near-upset of the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXIV. His dramatic last-minute drive, which ended up at the Rams one-yard line, is still considered one of the great moments in Super Bowl lore. Add to that the last-minute name of Cam Newton, the 2010 Heisman Trophy winner at Auburn, who won the NFL MVP Award while leading his Carolina Panthers team to a 15-1 record, before losing to Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl No. 50, and one can see that, when given a legitimate chance, Black men can lead NFL teams from the hallowed quarterback position. 

Jalen Hurts, Philadelphia Eagles PHOTO: ALL PRO REELS

Shifting to the present day, we find that the principal reason for the influx of Black men playing the quarterback position in the NFL is the game has evolved over the last decade. Gone are the days of the rigid, stand in the pocket quarterbacks who cannot avoid the speed of on-rushing defensive players. The consensus of NFL coaches is today’s quarterbacks have to be athletic and possess the ability to escape the pass rush and buy time to make plays down the field.

This is a long distance from the thinking of decades past when Black men were steered away from thinking that they could play the No. 1 position on the football field. Stereotypical thinking, such as Blacks are not smart enough to play quarterback, kept the quarterback position an all-white affair during the growth decades of the 1950s and ’60s. That history is littered with the shattered dreams of men like Jefferson Street and Joe Gilliam of the 1970s Pittsburgh Steelers.

As a young reporter, I became aware of Gilliam’s situation. He was named the starting quarterback for the Steelers over a struggling Terry Bradshaw and led the team to a 4-1-1 record in their first Super Bowl winning season. His life fell apart when he was benched in favor of Bradshaw. He drifted to drugs and died in 2000 a brokenhearted man. He was given a chance, succeeded and still lost his job.

Years earlier, Marlin Briscoe crashed the sports headlines when he was named the starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos, the first Black man to be named a starter for an NFL franchise. But his stint as a starter was short-lived.

Doug Williams’s landmark performance in Super Bowl XXII forever destroyed the myth that Black men could not play quarterback. His record setting passing day in his Washington Redskins’ 42-10 crushing of the Broncos, despite playing on a seriously injured knee, followed two Super Bowl victories by another man of color, Jim Plunkett of the Oakland Raiders in 1981 and 1984. Both men were strong-armed stand-in-the-pocket quarterbacks, a far cry from today’s mobile Black signal callers.

But they are owed a debt of gratitude for opening the door to the mega-million-dollar contracts being offered to Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Jordan Love, Tua Tagaviloa and the rest of the current class of Black quarterbacks. During a past interview with Doug Williams, he said he was proud to be a pioneer for today’s young Black quarterbacks. They should tip their heads in respect whenever his name is spoken.