(ThyBlackMan.com) Sports history has become as important as ever. The relative lack of live sports due to COVID-19 has required television sports networks to replay past sporting events and reflect on sports history. Just days ago, Carolina Panthers running back Christian McCaffrey made history to become the highest-paid running back in NFL history after agreeing to a four-year contract extension with Carolina. McCaffrey is the new face of the franchise following the departures of two of the best players in franchise history in linebacker Luke Kuechly and quarterback Cam Newton. The 2020 Carolina Panthers will have a very new look to them with the new head coach Matt Rhule and new starting quarterback Teddy Bridgewater but McCaffrey will be a constant. Two years ago, the 2018 Carolina Panthers were a racially unique NFL team for multiple reasons.
During the 2018 NFL season, the Carolina Panthers were third in their four-team NFC South Division, finishing at seven wins and nine losses. Their scoring offense ranked 14th out of 32 teams while their scoring defense ranked 19th out of 32 teams. By many accounts, the 2018 Panthers were an average NFL team but it is important to note the racial composition of three key figures on that team of head coach, starting quarterback, and starting running back.
It’s not as big a deal now that there are several productive black quarterbacks in the NFL but back in 2018, Cam Newton was arguably the most famous black quarterback in the world. He was ranked 25th in the NFL’s Top 100 Players of 2018, which is a list voted by NFL players. Just three years prior to 2018, Newton was also the NFL’s Most Valuable Player and became the first black quarterback to win The Associated Press MVP award outright after Tennessee’s Steve McNair shared the award with Peyton Manning after the 2004 season. Newton was a rare black quarterback who was a former MVP back in 2018.
Christian McCaffrey becoming a star running back in significant in today’s NFL as well. He became a full-time starting running back for the first time during the 2018 season. It was rare that he was the starting running back in that he is white. White NFL running backs were not rare during the early 100 years of the NFL’s history but finding a starting running back who is white in the NFL in during the last decade is truly rare. Ironically, former Stanford running back Toby Gerhart is the last notable white running back to earn a starting running back position for a NFL team when he did so for the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2014. Stylistically, McCaffrey is a very different running back than Gerhart was but the racial stereotypes about black athletes’ “inherent natural” athleticism work also against white athletes. Black athlete stereotypes in football positions like running back and wide receiver, which are positions that require speed, quickness, and agility, work against white athletes, when it is perceived that white athletes would lack in those areas.
In terms of leadership positions, it is known that hiring black men to lead football teams as head coaches has been a longstanding issue. The head coach of the 2018 Carolina Panthers, Ron Rivera, is a minority himself as the son of a Puerto Rican father and Mexican American mother. By leading the Panthers to Super Bowl 50, he became just the second Latino head coach to reach the Super Bowl, joining former Raiders coach Tom Flores. While there are multiple Latino head coaches at major college football programs like Oregon’s Mario Cristobal and Miami’s Manny Diaz, Rivera is the only Latino head coach in the NFL and was the only one in 2018. While race is a social construct, it is an important part of society regardless of what Tom Brady says. The 2018 Carolina Panthers were an interesting team with a starting black quarterback, starting white running back, and Latino head coach.
Staff Writer; Mark Hines