(ThyBlackMan.com) It’s Philadelphia versus Kansas City in the Super Bowl. It’s not 2023, sports fans are getting a rematch of Super Bowl LVII with this year’s Super Bowl in New Orleans. The 2024 NFL season will conclude following the battle for the Lombardi Trophy featuring several stars from both Philadelphia and Kansas City. The 2024 NFL season was another interesting and exciting season with new rules for kickoffs, notable rookie quarterback performances like Jayden Daniels’s, and the race for NFL history to be a three peat Super Bowl champion by Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid, and their team. Because so many of the NFL’s best quarterbacks are African/Black, the storyline of this year’s Super Bowl doesn’t have to highlight the historical plight of African/Black quarterback through the matchup of Mahomes and Jalen Hurts.
As part of the NFL’s Heritage Program, which celebrates international diversity and supports the growth of football globally, NFL players were able to display their ancestral country flag on the back of their helmets during the 2024 season so NFL fans probably noticed several different flag decals on the back of NFL players over the course of the 2024 NFL season including the Nigerian flag. It is probably also surprising to know that the defending Super Bowl champions feature a number of NFL players on its team from one of the countries outside the U.S. that produces the second most current NFL players, which is Nigeria.
Kansas City edge rushers Josh Uche, Charles Omenihu, and Felix Anudike-Uzomah all have Nigerian roots. Although none of them are starters, they could play a role in relief of starters Mike Danna and George Karlaftis III in the pass rush against Philadelphia quarterback Jalen Hurts. Derrick Nnadi will also play a role at defensive tackle to help take the focus from Pro Bowler Chris Jones. Nnadi is proud of his Nigerian heritage and shared a cultural feast over the 2024 NFL season with teammate Chukwuebuka Godrick. “It was ‘Heritage Month’ a few months ago. So we get to, you know, wear our flag on the helmet, which is really cool, being able to, you know, be out there, my face not showing, but you can tell he’s Nigerian is huge to me.” Godrick said. It is notable to also point out that Philadelphia also has a defensive tackle with Nigerian background, Moro Ojomo. Ojomo was born in Lagos, Nigeria and his family emigrated from Nigeria to California when he was 8 years old.
One of the NFL’s more high-profile rookie wide receivers was Chicago Bears first round pick Rome Odunze. Odunze takes pride in his heritage and has publicly let it be known in interviews and saying, “My Nigerian heritage is something that really drives me to keep doing what I’m doing. African Americans sometimes don’t know where they come from. So, for me, I feel super blessed that I know where I come from, I know the village that my grandpa grew up in. It’s about honoring them.” It is an important point that Odunze makes that most Africans born in the U.S. cannot trace the exact location in Africa of their families but it is important to identify with Africa. The great Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. also made links to Africa and African independence. He once said, “we are descendants of the Africans…“our heritage is Africa.”
Staff Writer; Mark Hines
