10 Black starting quarterbacks in Week 1 marks the most in NFL history

For the first time in NFL history, the number of Black starting quarterbacks in the NFL has reached double digits.

Say what you want about the NFL’s performative gestures regarding civil rights when still blacklisting a certain quarterback of color who was way ahead of the game in that regard, but one thing that has proven true over the last few seasons, and certainly in 2020, is that we are absolutely in the age of the Black quarterback.

Cam Newton replacing Tom Brady is the biggest story in that regard today, as he’s the Patriots’ first defined starter of color… well, ever. Outside of things like Jacoby Brissett starting in Week 3 of the 2016 season when Brady was suspended for the DeflateGate scandal and backup Jimmy Garoppolo suffered a shoulder injury in Week 2, it’s a new day in Foxboro.

And as The Undefeated points out, there are 10 Black quarterbacks starting in Week 1, the most in NFL history.

Moreover, the quality of that play is absolute. Last season, per Football Outsiders’ season-cumulative opponent-adjusted metrics, four of the top five quarterbacks in the NFL last season — Prescott, Mahomes, Wilson, and Jackson — were Black. Jackson became the NFL’s second unanimous Most CaValuable Player, matching only Brady in 2010 in that regard.

Kyler Murray is entering his second season, and if he can cut down on the interceptions, he has the capacity to be an MVP candidate. Bridgewater has recovered from a gruesome knee injury a few years back to grab a three-year, $63 million contract to be the Panthers’ starter after backing up Drew Brees last season. Wilson has been one of the NFL’s most valuable quarterbacks for years, though his MVP votes have never reflected that. Tyrod Taylor may not be flashy, but he’s managed to stay in the league since 2011, he made the Pro Bowl with the Bills in 2015, and if you compared his quarterback play to that of current Bills starter Josh Allen, it’s Allen who would come up short.

It’s a remarkable advancement for Black quarterbacks, who were thought for so long by people in the league to lack the leadership abilities and base intelligence to master the game’s most important position. Pure garbage, of course, but the current advancement, based purely on skill as it is, is also a tribute to every quarterback of color from Fritz Pollard to Marlin Briscoe to James Harris to Warren Moon who either never got a fair chance to show what they could do, or had to wait for their opportunities far longer than they should have.

There’s still a lot the NFL has to do to make it a truly representative league of a roster population that runs over 70% Black, but in one case — the case of that most important position — the NFL has finally been forced to truly put the best players on the field.