Racial Bias and the Black Quarterback
Lamar Jackson, the NFL's Baltimore Ravens star, has been one of the league's best players for the last five years. In Jackson's MVP season, he set the season record for quarterback rushing yards while simultaneously leading the league in touchdown passes, bringing the Ravens to the top seed in the AFC. Although he became just the second unanimous MVP in NFL History that season, you wouldn't believe any of that if his ongoing contract "war" with Baltimore was your first time hearing of him. The racial stigma in sports when it comes to black athletes has been a long-winded discussion full of so many layers, with the politics of everything being at the forefront. Lamar Jackson, who from 2018-2022 was still on his rookie contract, earning $9M a year, was looking for a necessary boost in salary once that contract was over. Still, after seeing the field and how quarterbacks who have done far less than him have earned massive paydays, he wants to be the second-highest-paid quarterback in the league. The problem is there is no good argument against why he shouldn't be.
The stigma around Lamar has always been with his ability to run the football at an elite rate, with people labeling him as a running back instead of his outright position of QB. A good player to use as an example for this conversation would be Saints' backup QB Taysom Hill (who happens to be white), whose glorified for being able to play three positions, quarterback, tight end, and running back, while Jackson is demonized for it. Lamar proved to the world that he can throw the football as well as run it to the highest degree imaginable, but people continue to feel as though he's not appreciated by the not only the league but media and the fans for being able to excel at something many QBs are starting to add to their game. The mobile quarterback is the future of the sport, but why doesn't the NFL not want Lamar Jackson to lead this generational shift?
Source:
https://www.si.com/nfl/2022/03/05/lamar-jackson-racial-bias-black-quarterbacks-nfl-the-shop
I agree that the racial stigma around Lamar Jackson is why he has yet to sign a max contract. With the quarterback being a predominantly white position across the league, many Black quarterbacks, such as Jackson and Michael Vick, are often labeled for being fast/athletic but not capable of running a team's offense. This year's Super Bowl was the first time two black quarterbacks faced off in the 57 years of the Super Bowl. The NBA displays a similar situation. The current two-time reigning MVP, on pace to win another, Nikola Jokic, a European/White player, is glorified for getting/averaging a triple-double. In contrast, Russell Westbrook, a Black player, was criticized and accused of stat padding throughout the three straight years he averaged a triple-double.
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