This summer, black quarterbacks have been all over the news. In recent weeks, it’s been the Michael Vick saga playing out on our airwaves on a daily basis. In the preceding weeks, it was the death of Steve McNair. Throw in the football pundits and fantasy gurus endlessly pontificating on the uncertain situations of Jason Campbell, Tarvaris Jackson, Byron Leftwich, Daunte Culpepper and Jamarcus Russell and it seems they’ve been everywhere. Therefore, as we start this particular NFL season it seems appropriate to figure out who are the greatest black quarterbacks of all time.
Of course, this wasn’t always the case. Throughout the 1980s, Warren Moon was usually the lone black quarterback to start and often one of only 2 or 3 in the entire NFL. As recently as the mid 1990s, there were usually only 4 or 5 black qbs in the league and 1 or 2 (sometimes 3) that started. However, over the last decade, it’s become fairly commonplace for NFL teams to have black quarterbacks on their rosters and even start them.
Still, the stereotype of the black quarterback as a running back who happens to line up under center persists. Indeed, many have struggled adjusting to the pro game. I have a theory about that. Many of these guys were the best athlete on the field by a good margin throughout their high school and college careers. This led to wins as they had the ability to just “make something happen” whenever a play broke down. As long as this improvisational style led to victories, coaches who benefited weren’t going to chance lessening the effectiveness of their signal callers by trying to force them to go through their progressions, read defenses, look off defenders and learning other subtleties that go into playing the position at the highest level. So by the time they reach the NFL, they often haven’t had the same tutelage as their white counterparts.
Then there is the centuries old idea that if a few blacks don’t perform well at a given activity then none can but if a few do perform well, they’re exceptions. Rest assured, as the athletic ability of players at other positions in high school and college continues to increase, black quarterbacks will be forced to learn true quarterbacking skills earlier on in their development. So over time, we will see more blacks coming into the league that play the position with skill as much as physical prowess. Only then will the old belief that blacks don’t possess the mental capacity to play quarterback truly die. It has to. After all, blacks were once thought not smart enough operate farm equipment, fly planes, perform surgery, drive cars or even coach in the NFL.
That said, there are plenty of highly mobile black quarterbacks, but I can proudly say most of the players on this list had their biggest successes with their arms, not their feet. However, the still brief history of blacks at the position leaves us with a few guys making the cut that wouldn’t even be considered among the best quarterbacks on any of the franchises they played for. Give it another decade or two and that should change.
That’s enough of my yapping. Here are…
The Greatest Black Quarterbacks of All Time
10. Kordell Stewart
Stat Line: 14,746 pass yds, 74 td
Slash did a little of everything as evidenced by his 1997 season. That year, he threw for over 3,000 yards, a career high 21 touchdowns and ran for a career best 11 more. In 2001, he made his only Pro Bowl by leading the Steelers to a 13-3 record. In both seasons, he would help guide Pittsburgh to the AFC Championship Game.
9. Jeff Blake
Stat Line: 21,711 pass yds, 134 td
For a time, Blake was being groomed to be the franchise qb for the Cincinnati Bengals. Truth told, whenever given the chance to play he put up numbers. During the 1995 and ’96 seasons he was among the better quarterbacks in the league, throwing for over 7400 yards and 52 td over that stretch. He made the Pro Bowl in ’95. He was also widely believed to throw one of the best deep balls in the league.
8. Aaron Brooks
Stat Line: 20,261 pass yds, 123 td
From 2001 through 2004, Brooks was statistically one of the best quarterbacks in the league. He passed for at least 3500 yards and 21 touchdowns each season in that four year stretch. He was brilliant in 2003 tossing 24 scores against just 8 interceptions. However, he never made a pro bowl and didn’t fulfill the promise of those years as a disastrous 2005 season, followed by an even worse 2006, put Brooks out of football.
7. Michael Vick
Stat Line: 11,505 pass yds, 71 td, 3859 rushing yds, 21 rushing td, 7.3 ypc (1st all time)
Even before the whole dog-fighting thing, the three-time Pro Bowler was one of the most polarizing players to ever play the position. He was undoubtedly electrifying but was he any good? Many said no, but just as many swore by him. To his credit, he led the Falcons to a previously unheard of road playoff win in Green Bay and even led them to an appearance in the NFC Championship Game. In 2006, he also set a record for quarterbacks, rushing for 1039 yards. While his detractors point out his paltry passing numbers, his supporters point out a different stat. He’s 38-28-1 as a starter.
6. Daunte Culpepper
Stat Line: 23,208 pass yds, 146 td, 63.3 comp% (8th all time), 89.0 rating (11th all time), 239.3 pass yds/game (8th all time), 34 rushing td
Culpepper has always been a big quarterback with a big arm. The perfect marriage of his talent with those of his all-world receivers in Minnesota led to some of the most exciting offensive displays ever seen and put him in 3 Pro Bowls. His 2004 season is one of the best any quarterback has ever had. He completed 69.2% of his passes for a monstrous 4,717 yards (7th best all time) and 39 touchdowns against just 11 picks.
5. Doug Williams
Stat Line: 16,698 pass yds, 100 td
Let’s be honest, in terms of stats Williams is in Kordell Stewart territory. However, in terms of accomplishment it can be argued he belongs higher. His performance in the 1987 Super Bowl is legendary and made him the only black starting quarterback to win the big game and be its MVP. His forgotten achievement is turning around the perennially abysmal Tampa Bay Buccaneers and taking them to the 1979 NFC Championship Game.
4. Randall Cunningham
Stat Line: 29,979 pass yds (29th all time), 207 td (24th all time), 56.6 comp%, 81.5 rating (39th all time), 4928 rush yds, 35 rush td
Sports Illustrated once called him “The Perfect Weapon.” In his first incarnation in Philadelphia, he was Fran Tarkenton with a better arm and he struck fear in the hearts of opposing players and coaches. When he resurfaced in 1998 with the Vikings, he was an accomplished pocket passer who made his fourth and final Pro Bowl and was named the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year. He didn’t just put up pretty stats, he won games finishing with an impressive 82-52-1 record as a starter over his career.
3. Steve McNair
Stat Line: 31,304 pass yds (28th all time), 174 td (46th all time), 60.1 comp% (25th all time), 82.8 rating (28th all time), 3590 rush yds, 37 rush td
Air McNair earned a reputation as both a warrior and a leader of men, labels not usually given to black quarterbacks. Statistically, he wasn’t always pretty but he gutted through a number of games and was usually on the winning side, posting a gaudy 91-62 record. He made 3 Pro Bowls and was named the NFL’s co-MVP with Peyton Manning in 2003. That year, he led the league with a 100.4 passer rating. A few years earlier, he led the Titans to the only Super Bowl appearance in franchise history but unfortunately came up one yard short of possibly winning the game.
2. Warren Moon
Stat Line: 49,325 pass yds (4th all time), 291 TD (6th all time), 58.4 comp% (49th all time), 80.9 rating (42nd all time), 237.1 pass yds/game (12th all time)
Surprise! The only black quarterback in the Hall of Fame is not #1. True, Moon put up some gaudy numbers. In fact, he has 2 of the top 10 and 4 of the top 40 single season passing yard totals in the history of the game. He also went to 9 Pro Bowls and was voted the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year in 1990. He was also a victim of NFL racism when it comes to the quarterback position. He didn’t enter the league until he was 28 because no one wanted to let him play qb when he came out of college. So he went to Canada and led the Edmonton Eskimos to a record 5 straight Grey Cup wins, forcing the NFL to pay attention. So why isn’t he #1? To be honest, he was never that kind of winner in the NFL. He posted a barely over .500 regular season record and was 3-7 in the postseason, never managing to get his team to even a Conference Championship game.
1. Donovan McNabb
Stat Line: 29,320 yds (33rd all time), 194 td (34th all time), 58.9 comp% (41st all time), 85.9 rating (18th all time), 26 rush td, 2.1 int% (2nd all time)
McNabb wins. The long time Eagles signal caller has carried his team to 5 NFC Championship Games and one Super Bowl appearance. He’s done this and put up impressive numbers despite playing most of his career with sub-par receiving corps. He’s done it as a running quarterback early in his career and as a guy who can scramble but prefers to stay in the pocket as his career has gone on. He’s lacking the longevity and perhaps the durability of Warren Moon but his teams have been far more successful. Also, not enough credit has gone to McNabb for playing on a team with a pass-happy coach and rarely turning the ball over. Only 2.1% of his career passes have been intercepted. That’s tied for 2nd best all time. Think about this: the person he’s tied with is David Garrard and #1 on the list is Jason Campbell (hey, black quarterbacks!). Neither of those guys is asked to put the ball in the air nearly as much as McNabb whose 32.1 pass attempts per game is 12th most in the history of the game. That interception rate is better than that of Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Philip Rivers, Kurt Warner, Drew Brees, Joe Montana, Steve Young and any other quarterback you can think of. He’s also amassed 5 Pro Bowls and 1 feud with Terrell Owens.
The Black Quarterback You Never Knew
Marlin Briscoe
Briscoe is the first black starting quarterback of the modern era. In 1968, he was a rookie quarterback for the AFL’s Denver Broncos. He appeared in 11 games and started 5 but also threw 13 passes or less in 5. Despite his limited role, he finished 6th in the league in passing touchdowns with 14, passing yards with 1,589 and passer rating with a 62.9 mark (yes, it was a different era). His whopping 17.1 yards per completion led the league (still the 18th best mark all time) and his 6.3 touchdown percentage was 2nd. In his 5 starts, the Broncos went 2-3 (they were 5-9 for the season). Instead of building on this, he started the last 4 games (plus one earlier in October) of the season and led them to 3 of their 5 highest point totals that season, or at least getting an opportunity to compete for the starting job, he was released before the 1969 season. He would manage to play 8 more years in the league but was transformed into a wide receiver by his next team, the Buffalo Bills, and would never again play quarterback.
The Burning Question
Which of the current crop of black quarterbacks will crack the list?
Okay, I’m done. Here’s the part where you call me crazy.
Of course, this wasn’t always the case. Throughout the 1980s, Warren Moon was usually the lone black quarterback to start and often one of only 2 or 3 in the entire NFL. As recently as the mid 1990s, there were usually only 4 or 5 black qbs in the league and 1 or 2 (sometimes 3) that started. However, over the last decade, it’s become fairly commonplace for NFL teams to have black quarterbacks on their rosters and even start them.
Still, the stereotype of the black quarterback as a running back who happens to line up under center persists. Indeed, many have struggled adjusting to the pro game. I have a theory about that. Many of these guys were the best athlete on the field by a good margin throughout their high school and college careers. This led to wins as they had the ability to just “make something happen” whenever a play broke down. As long as this improvisational style led to victories, coaches who benefited weren’t going to chance lessening the effectiveness of their signal callers by trying to force them to go through their progressions, read defenses, look off defenders and learning other subtleties that go into playing the position at the highest level. So by the time they reach the NFL, they often haven’t had the same tutelage as their white counterparts.
Then there is the centuries old idea that if a few blacks don’t perform well at a given activity then none can but if a few do perform well, they’re exceptions. Rest assured, as the athletic ability of players at other positions in high school and college continues to increase, black quarterbacks will be forced to learn true quarterbacking skills earlier on in their development. So over time, we will see more blacks coming into the league that play the position with skill as much as physical prowess. Only then will the old belief that blacks don’t possess the mental capacity to play quarterback truly die. It has to. After all, blacks were once thought not smart enough operate farm equipment, fly planes, perform surgery, drive cars or even coach in the NFL.
That said, there are plenty of highly mobile black quarterbacks, but I can proudly say most of the players on this list had their biggest successes with their arms, not their feet. However, the still brief history of blacks at the position leaves us with a few guys making the cut that wouldn’t even be considered among the best quarterbacks on any of the franchises they played for. Give it another decade or two and that should change.
That’s enough of my yapping. Here are…
The Greatest Black Quarterbacks of All Time
10. Kordell Stewart
Stat Line: 14,746 pass yds, 74 td
Slash did a little of everything as evidenced by his 1997 season. That year, he threw for over 3,000 yards, a career high 21 touchdowns and ran for a career best 11 more. In 2001, he made his only Pro Bowl by leading the Steelers to a 13-3 record. In both seasons, he would help guide Pittsburgh to the AFC Championship Game.
9. Jeff Blake
Stat Line: 21,711 pass yds, 134 td
For a time, Blake was being groomed to be the franchise qb for the Cincinnati Bengals. Truth told, whenever given the chance to play he put up numbers. During the 1995 and ’96 seasons he was among the better quarterbacks in the league, throwing for over 7400 yards and 52 td over that stretch. He made the Pro Bowl in ’95. He was also widely believed to throw one of the best deep balls in the league.
8. Aaron Brooks
Stat Line: 20,261 pass yds, 123 td
From 2001 through 2004, Brooks was statistically one of the best quarterbacks in the league. He passed for at least 3500 yards and 21 touchdowns each season in that four year stretch. He was brilliant in 2003 tossing 24 scores against just 8 interceptions. However, he never made a pro bowl and didn’t fulfill the promise of those years as a disastrous 2005 season, followed by an even worse 2006, put Brooks out of football.
7. Michael Vick
Stat Line: 11,505 pass yds, 71 td, 3859 rushing yds, 21 rushing td, 7.3 ypc (1st all time)
Even before the whole dog-fighting thing, the three-time Pro Bowler was one of the most polarizing players to ever play the position. He was undoubtedly electrifying but was he any good? Many said no, but just as many swore by him. To his credit, he led the Falcons to a previously unheard of road playoff win in Green Bay and even led them to an appearance in the NFC Championship Game. In 2006, he also set a record for quarterbacks, rushing for 1039 yards. While his detractors point out his paltry passing numbers, his supporters point out a different stat. He’s 38-28-1 as a starter.
6. Daunte Culpepper
Stat Line: 23,208 pass yds, 146 td, 63.3 comp% (8th all time), 89.0 rating (11th all time), 239.3 pass yds/game (8th all time), 34 rushing td
Culpepper has always been a big quarterback with a big arm. The perfect marriage of his talent with those of his all-world receivers in Minnesota led to some of the most exciting offensive displays ever seen and put him in 3 Pro Bowls. His 2004 season is one of the best any quarterback has ever had. He completed 69.2% of his passes for a monstrous 4,717 yards (7th best all time) and 39 touchdowns against just 11 picks.
5. Doug Williams
Stat Line: 16,698 pass yds, 100 td
Let’s be honest, in terms of stats Williams is in Kordell Stewart territory. However, in terms of accomplishment it can be argued he belongs higher. His performance in the 1987 Super Bowl is legendary and made him the only black starting quarterback to win the big game and be its MVP. His forgotten achievement is turning around the perennially abysmal Tampa Bay Buccaneers and taking them to the 1979 NFC Championship Game.
4. Randall Cunningham
Stat Line: 29,979 pass yds (29th all time), 207 td (24th all time), 56.6 comp%, 81.5 rating (39th all time), 4928 rush yds, 35 rush td
Sports Illustrated once called him “The Perfect Weapon.” In his first incarnation in Philadelphia, he was Fran Tarkenton with a better arm and he struck fear in the hearts of opposing players and coaches. When he resurfaced in 1998 with the Vikings, he was an accomplished pocket passer who made his fourth and final Pro Bowl and was named the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year. He didn’t just put up pretty stats, he won games finishing with an impressive 82-52-1 record as a starter over his career.
3. Steve McNair
Stat Line: 31,304 pass yds (28th all time), 174 td (46th all time), 60.1 comp% (25th all time), 82.8 rating (28th all time), 3590 rush yds, 37 rush td
Air McNair earned a reputation as both a warrior and a leader of men, labels not usually given to black quarterbacks. Statistically, he wasn’t always pretty but he gutted through a number of games and was usually on the winning side, posting a gaudy 91-62 record. He made 3 Pro Bowls and was named the NFL’s co-MVP with Peyton Manning in 2003. That year, he led the league with a 100.4 passer rating. A few years earlier, he led the Titans to the only Super Bowl appearance in franchise history but unfortunately came up one yard short of possibly winning the game.
2. Warren Moon
Stat Line: 49,325 pass yds (4th all time), 291 TD (6th all time), 58.4 comp% (49th all time), 80.9 rating (42nd all time), 237.1 pass yds/game (12th all time)
Surprise! The only black quarterback in the Hall of Fame is not #1. True, Moon put up some gaudy numbers. In fact, he has 2 of the top 10 and 4 of the top 40 single season passing yard totals in the history of the game. He also went to 9 Pro Bowls and was voted the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year in 1990. He was also a victim of NFL racism when it comes to the quarterback position. He didn’t enter the league until he was 28 because no one wanted to let him play qb when he came out of college. So he went to Canada and led the Edmonton Eskimos to a record 5 straight Grey Cup wins, forcing the NFL to pay attention. So why isn’t he #1? To be honest, he was never that kind of winner in the NFL. He posted a barely over .500 regular season record and was 3-7 in the postseason, never managing to get his team to even a Conference Championship game.
1. Donovan McNabb
Stat Line: 29,320 yds (33rd all time), 194 td (34th all time), 58.9 comp% (41st all time), 85.9 rating (18th all time), 26 rush td, 2.1 int% (2nd all time)
McNabb wins. The long time Eagles signal caller has carried his team to 5 NFC Championship Games and one Super Bowl appearance. He’s done this and put up impressive numbers despite playing most of his career with sub-par receiving corps. He’s done it as a running quarterback early in his career and as a guy who can scramble but prefers to stay in the pocket as his career has gone on. He’s lacking the longevity and perhaps the durability of Warren Moon but his teams have been far more successful. Also, not enough credit has gone to McNabb for playing on a team with a pass-happy coach and rarely turning the ball over. Only 2.1% of his career passes have been intercepted. That’s tied for 2nd best all time. Think about this: the person he’s tied with is David Garrard and #1 on the list is Jason Campbell (hey, black quarterbacks!). Neither of those guys is asked to put the ball in the air nearly as much as McNabb whose 32.1 pass attempts per game is 12th most in the history of the game. That interception rate is better than that of Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Philip Rivers, Kurt Warner, Drew Brees, Joe Montana, Steve Young and any other quarterback you can think of. He’s also amassed 5 Pro Bowls and 1 feud with Terrell Owens.
The Black Quarterback You Never Knew
Marlin Briscoe
Briscoe is the first black starting quarterback of the modern era. In 1968, he was a rookie quarterback for the AFL’s Denver Broncos. He appeared in 11 games and started 5 but also threw 13 passes or less in 5. Despite his limited role, he finished 6th in the league in passing touchdowns with 14, passing yards with 1,589 and passer rating with a 62.9 mark (yes, it was a different era). His whopping 17.1 yards per completion led the league (still the 18th best mark all time) and his 6.3 touchdown percentage was 2nd. In his 5 starts, the Broncos went 2-3 (they were 5-9 for the season). Instead of building on this, he started the last 4 games (plus one earlier in October) of the season and led them to 3 of their 5 highest point totals that season, or at least getting an opportunity to compete for the starting job, he was released before the 1969 season. He would manage to play 8 more years in the league but was transformed into a wide receiver by his next team, the Buffalo Bills, and would never again play quarterback.
The Burning Question
Which of the current crop of black quarterbacks will crack the list?
Okay, I’m done. Here’s the part where you call me crazy.
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