If left up to the Todd McShays of the America, black quarterbacks coming out of college might still have to go to Canada to play that position instead of being switched to wide receiver, running back or defensive back in the National Football League as the case usually was in the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s.
For decades, it was an unspoken code in America’s NFL that blacks lacked the intelligence, drive and leadership skills necessary to be a successful quarterback. Great athletes? Yes. Can they run fast, jump high and catch balls? Yes. Do they have quick feet and great hand-to-eye coordination? Yes. But are they smart, driven leaders? Nope.
Yesterday on ESPN’s Mike and Mike, the panel was debating about which quarterbacks coming out of college for the NFL Draft might get selected in the first round. The names of Deshaun Watson, a black quarterback out of Clemson, and Mitchell Trubinsky, a white quarterback out of North Carolina came up.
McShay, considered one of the network’s draft experts, went on to say he was concerned that Watson, who led Clemson to a national championship and won the Davey O’Brien Award as the best quarterback in college football, might not be able to pick up NFL “verbiage.” In other words, McShay shamelessly and rather self-assuredly, gave new life to the “black quarterbacks lack the intelligence to play quarterback in the NFL” stereotype.
I about jumped out of my chair yelling at the television, but none of the other panelists said a word or offered any pushback whatsoever against McShay’s racist comment. Not co-hosts Mike Greenberg or Mike Golic, and not guest panelist Adam Schefter.
I guess that comment went over their heads or they simply didn’t want to challenge their co-worker, but something should’ve been said—particularly by Greenberg who is as smart as they come when it comes to television sports pundits.
I tweeted to McShay shortly after hearing his remarks seeking the basis for his belief that NFL verbiage might be too hard for Watson to comprehend. Here it is about 24 hours later and he’s yet to respond…most likely because there’s no justification for his racist jibber jabber.
Over the past decade black quarterbacks are getting chances they didn’t get in the past—in spite of guys like McShay. Cam Newton, Russell Wilson and Dak Prescott are proving people of McShay’s ilk wrong and showing that that blacks can play quarterback as well as anybody. The archaic, racist thinking that McShay voiced today has no place in the NFL or any American workplace.
Way back in slavery days, black people had to flee to Canada to be free and in the not too distant past black players had to go to the Canadian Football League to get a taste of the freedom, power and prestige that goes with being a pro quarterback. Shamefully, they had to go play up there because of owners, general managers, coaches and fans with McShay-like attitudes in their own country.
I think about all the great black quarterbacks coming out of college who were denied a chance to play that position in the NFL due to racism—Dennis Franklin and Condredge Holloway come to mind. Some played other positions and others went to Canada. If not for the successes of Doug Williams and Warren Moon at the quarterback position, it might still be that way in the NFL.
I’m hopeful that McShay is an outlier and that at some point he upgrades his thinking from the 20th Century to the 21st Century. I wonder how McShay would feel if somebody took a look at him and said covering the NFL would be too hard for him and he had to go to a foreign country to prove otherwise?
By the way, Deshaun Watson graduated early. He got his degree from Clemson in December. An NFL playbook won’t be a challenge.