NFL personalities can’t go more than a few months without fabricating another racism controversy. The latest one is just as dumb as the ones that came before.
The Arizona Cardinals gave quarterback Kyler Murray a $230 million contract extension, but the news was quickly soured by a peculiar clause. The team had included a requirement that Murray “complete at least four (4) hours of independent study” during game weeks and that he not spend those study hours “watching television, playing video games or browsing the internet.” Murray had agreed to the contract, so the clause obviously was not a big deal to him.
Mockery and jokes were inevitable, though, and the media coverage of the clause put enough pressure on the Cardinals that they removed it from the contract after Murray had signed it. Yet, that was not good enough. Murray is black, and so the outrage industry decreed that this whole controversy must be the result of racism.
Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon, who faced actual racism trying to play the position in the late 1970s and 1980s, called it “a slap in the face to all African-American quarterbacks” and said it furthered stereotypes that black quarterbacks were lazy and couldn’t be leaders. The fact that the Cardinals just gave Murray $230 million would make that seem rather silly, as would the fact that Murray admitted in a New York Times profile that he doesn’t “kill” himself watching film.
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes went further, insisting that he, Murray, and Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson are unfairly criticized because they are black, “and other guys don’t” get those same criticisms. Mahomes, who is widely considered one of the best quarterbacks in the league now and likely for the next two decades, is whining that one anonymous coach or scout saying he plays “streetball” under pressure (in a ranking that named him the second-best quarterback in the league) is proof that he is regularly the target of racist criticism.
But Mahomes does often play “streetball” when the play breaks down. It’s one reason he is so successful and why his highlights are played on loop. It also leads to him making bad decisions with the football. And the criticism of Jackson is that he is a mediocre passer compared to his hype and athleticism. In 2021, Jackson was the 19th-ranked passer, according to ESPN’s QBR metrics, and in 2020, he ranked 20th. (He was fifth in his 2019 MVP season but obviously has not matched that performance since.)
The criticism of Murray came from the Cardinals, and it came along with $230 million and a commitment to him as their franchise quarterback. Other black quarterbacks were not given this clause. This is not proof of racism of any sort, but it is proof that influential figures such as Moon and Mahomes will cry racism over anything and everything.
