NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell sent a memo yesterday declaring that the league is failing to promote racial diversity. His message lamented the number of black head coaches in the NFL and labeled the current situation “unacceptable.” It was the league’s latest virtue signaling initiative to appease a race-obsessed mob. Of course, Goodell didn’t discuss the league’s real failure regarding diversity. Because if the NFL truly cared, it would start demanding more white, Latino, and Asian players on its teams’ rosters.
Goodell’s memo is nonsense unless coaching candidates are not being hired specifically because of their skin color. There is no proof of racism. There is just a faction of people in the league, the media, and the country that want skin color to be the determining factor when hiring people, all under the guise of “diversity.” Yet, if that is the case, then apply the same logic and standards regarding rosters of NFL teams.
Consider the racial breakdown of the league compared to the demographics of the country. Black players make up 57.5% of players in the NFL despite only being 13.4% of the country’s population (and assume half of that represents black males). Is this diverse enough? Too diverse? What is the appropriate ratio that would satisfy the race-obsessed mob?
Meanwhile, white players make up 24.9% of the NFL while comprising 60.1% of the population. Latino players represent just 0.4% of all NFL players but are 18.5% of the country’s total. Asian players represent only 0.1% of all NFL players while accounting for 5.9% of the population. Yet, there is never a peep about a need for diversity among the league’s players. Why not? Using the same logic Goodell does in his memo, wouldn’t this signify an “unacceptable” amount of diversity?
Detractors will likely claim that black players are just typically better, and that is why there are more of them. That may or may not be valid. There is some evidence to support such a claim. However, it is not absolute. Take into account the following about some of the elite players in the league, many of whom are not black.
First, examine some of the quarterbacks. Tom Brady, the greatest quarterback of all time (who just retired), is white. Aaron Rodgers, likely this year’s MVP and routinely recognized as one of the game’s best quarterbacks, is also white. The two starting quarterbacks in this year’s Super Bowl are white.
Out of the league’s top nine wide receivers this past season, two were white: Cooper Kupp and Hunter Renfrow. It is also worth noting that Kupp was statistically ranked as the best receiver this year in every major category. Yet, examine the amount of white wide receivers on NFL rosters. White receivers typically have the stereotype of being slow and inferior to their black counterparts. Shouldn’t Kupp and Renfrow cause the NFL to realize it is “unacceptable” to lack diversity at this position?
Regarding tight ends, out of the top 10 listed here, seven are white. Also, the rankings for the best offensive lineman in the league follow somewhat of a similar pattern, including an Asian American player (albeit of Middle Eastern descent). Before his injuries, Christian McCaffrey was widely considered the best running back in the league. Additionally, on the defensive side of the ball, T.J. Watt led the NFL in sacks this season with 22.5. This total tied the record for most all-time in a single season in the league’s history.
Furthermore, consider this stereotype-reinforcing article in Sports Illustrated from 1998. It was about McCaffrey’s father, Ed McCaffrey. The very first sentence says, “He’s a goofy-looking white guy in a world of hip-hop flash, and that makes Ed McCaffrey one heck of a target.” “On Mondays he reads rip jobs in the press about his supposed lack of athletic ability,” is the third sentence. Imagine if such words were used to describe a black player!
The article also quotes former Broncos tight end and current talk show host Shannon Sharpe.
“But there’s reality and there’s perception, and people are starting to notice Ed for the wrong reason: because he’s a big white guy and not because he’s an unbelievable player,” Sharpe said in 1998. Sharpe also said later of McCaffrey that if he were black, he would have earned a much higher salary than he did.
And let’s not even begin to discuss the complete lack of representation of Latino and Asian football players in the NFL.
White people “are slow.” White athletes are “inferior to black athletes.” Black quarterbacks were, at one time, thought to be “inferior to white quarterbacks.” Asians and Latinos are not “good at football.” These are all stereotypes that have existed in football for years. The league only addressed them when they pertained to black players. That is not striving for diversity — that’s facilitating a lack of it.
But the NFL does not care about diversity. It would start with the racial breakdown of the team’s rosters if it did. But we all know that will never happen, no matter how many numerous stereotypes of nonblack players are regularly shattered. The NFL only cares about virtue signaling to a race-obsessed, indoctrinated mob.
