Photo: Getty Images
The NFL season is kicking off with a record number of Black starting quarterbacks hoping to lead their teams to a Super Bowl championship.
According to USA Today, 16 Black quarterbacks are slated to start in Week 1 of the 2025 NFL season, the most in league history.
The record-breaking high comes just two seasons after Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts became the first pair of Black quarterbacks to face off in the Super Bowl.
“It is history. It’s come a long way,” Mahomes said in 2023 ahead of Super Bowl 57. “To be the first for something is pretty cool.”
“It’s history," Hurts said of the moment.
Starting QBs for Week 1 of the 2025 season include Mahomes, Hurts, Bryce Young, Caleb Williams, Cam Ward, C.J. Stroud, Dak Prescott, Geno Smith, Jayden Daniels, Jordan Love, Justin Fields, Kyler Murray, Lamar Jackson, Michael Penix Jr., Russell Wilson, and Spencer Rattler.
Doug Williams, who became the first Black quarterback to win a Super Bowl in 1988, called the moment a long-awaited breakthrough.
“I said about a year and a half ago half the league gonna be Black quarterbacks before long. I said probably within the next five years, and it happened before five years,” Williams said. “If you write the top quarterback in the league, I think majority of them would be Black.”
Warren Moon, who made history as the first Black quarterback inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2006, said the record high signals a new era for the NFL.
“Just like last year and even the years prior, it just makes you proud to see the number just continue to keep rising,” Moon said. “Because I know what that position used to be thought of for African Americans to be able to play, and I was part of that.”
“It’s great that the league and ownership and society and everybody is bought in and sees that these guys can play at a very, very high level, and they continue to keep giving them more opportunities. The more opportunities they give them, they're turning them into a starting quarterback position. I love it.”
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