Russell Wilson Walked Through Doors But He Didn't Open Them
Athletes are no strangers to saying stupid things on the record. Many haven't taken public speaking or been coached on how to do interviews. What makes them worse than the average person with a camera in their face though, is that they've been worshiped and pampered since puberty, and believe they are infallible gods, and not just someone who can run fast.
In an interview for Essence magazine, Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson suggested he paved the road for modern-day African-American quarterbacks when he said, “For me to be able to go to back-to-back Super Bowls and win one of them, I think opened up a lot of doors. Now you see guys like Patrick Mahomes who won it; it’s really just us so far, but there’s more to come.” The emergence of quarterbacks like Mahomes, Jalen Hurts, Lamar Jackson, and C.J. Stroud, to name a few, is indicative of a new era in football and a glimpse into what the sport is trending toward.”
It's mind-boggling how someone who grew up watching and playing the game could be so ignorant of the sport's history. In 1953, Willie Thrower of the Chicago Bears became the NFL’s first black quarterback. He was literally the first person through the door, and maybe Wilson is suggesting Thrower closed the door behind him, so Russ needed to open it again.
Doug Williams became the first black quarterback to win the Super Bowl as a starter and was named the Super Bowl XXII MVP in 1988. How did he get through the door? Did he also close it behind him?
Steve McNair became the first black QB to win the NFL MVP in 2003, which is a doorway Russell Wilson has yet to pass through, let alone open. Warren Moon faced severe racism at the position and had to play quarterback in Canada from 1978-1983 because NFL teams wouldn't let him. He was the first, and still the only black quarterback in the NFL Hall of Fame.
It's safe to say Russell Wilson isn't the first black quarterback to do anything in the NFL. So how did he open doors? Maybe he's referring to mobile quarterbacks, and not necessarily African-American quarterbacks. If that's the case, his statement craps on the heads of Randall Cunningham, Michael Vick, Cam Newton, Steve Young, Kordell Stewart, or Fran Tarkenton. All of them played in the NFL before Wilson did.
Russell Wilson is just a modern, millennial, 21st-century athlete who wants attention. He’ll do anything to get it too, stooping as low as to steal credit from the true trailblazers of the sport. Let's hope Justin Fields wins the starting job in Pittsburgh so we never have to hear from this dummy ever again.
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