Which players do you believe need to speak up, Mr. Goodell??

Today, Roger Goodell found himself, as a lot of people in this country are, doing damage control not to get swept up in the first rounds of the Second American Civil War.

He regretted not being more receptive to the players and resolved to listen to them on issues such as race relations, police abuse, etc.

The problem is simple, Mr. Goodell.  Which players?

You see, one of the reasons we can praise Adam Silver so cleanly for how he handled the Donald Sterling situation is a very stark reality of his league:  Without African-American players, THERE IS NO NBA.

Even with all the international expansion and the like, according to racial expert Richard Lapchick, 74.4% of the 2015 NBA players were Black.  Basically three-quarters of the league is Black.

Similarly, 70% of the NFL players are Black.  This has been the case for a number of years.  So you would THINK that the NFL would have the same issues and need to be far more receptive to the needs and safely of African-American players.

But for two problems...

First, all of the NFL CEO's and Presidents are White.  Only 9% of team and league officials were Black in 2018, and that number has been steadily declining since 1996, where 14% of such officials were Black.

The second problem is even more stark.  The NFL, much to the chagrin of many people around the sport, has become, especially in the ESPN-media-driven era, all about the quarterback.

The media has pointed out that it has even been a rare occurrence that 10 teams started a week's games with a Black quarterback.  From 2000 to Week 12 of 2017, according to an article from The Undefeated:

• Only twelve times in that 17 1/2 season span were there at least nine Black quarterbacks starting a week.
• Only TWICE did that number reach ten, both in 2003.
• From 2004 to Week 12 of 2017, the number of times that even nine Black quarterbacks started in a week was only five.  Four in 2013, Week 5 in 2017.
• In 2017, only eight of the 32 teams had a Black quarterback.
• Only three times, including Patrick Mahomes last season, has a Black QB won the Super Bowl.
• At the end of the 2019-20 season, according to Wikipedia, there are now sixteen Black quarterbacks who had, at some point, started in the NFL.

1. Cam Newton is no longer in the league for the time being, and it may be a while before he finds a substitute fit after leaving Carolina.
2. Tyrod Taylor was the backup to Philip Rivers last year in Los Angeles.  With Rivers gone, though Taylor is believed to start this year as the Chargers' starter, CBS Sports lists him the second most likely quarterback to lose that position.
3. Robert Griffin III, now the backup to Jackson in Baltimore.
4. Russell Wilson, still the starter in Seattle, and a second of the three Black quarterbacks to win the Super Bowl.
5. Geno Smith is one of Wilson's backups, but has not played a regular-season game since 2018.
6. Teddy Bridgewater is probably going to be the successor to Newton in the starting role in Carolina.
7. Jameis Winston, after being the starter in Tampa Bay after being installed as the #1 draft pick, will now back up Drew Brees in New Orleans.  And I predict he will play quite a bit after Brees' big mouth.    
8. Brett Hundley has been a career backup -- first in Green Bay, now in Arizona.  Only real starts were the season Rodgers was hurt.
9. Dak Prescott, the big-money starter for the Cowboys, but for how much longer??
10. Jacoby Brissett WAS the starter in Indianapolis, but that's where Philip Rivers landed, so he's now a backup.
11. DeShaun Watson, the highly-entertaining and athletic starting quarterback of the Texans.
12. DeShone Kizer, waived by the LA Raiders, so he's no longer in the league as of the moment.
13. Mahomes
14. LaMar Jackson, another heir apparent to the top rung of teams in Baltimore as it's starter.
15. Kyler Murray, Arizona's starter and NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.
16. Dwayne Haskins, who started seven games for Washington last season after the starter was benched, but was injured in his seventh start and that was the end of his season.

So, of the 16:

• Six, possibly seven are starters now.
• Two probably will be starters this year, one moving to a new team, one graduating to the starting job of his old team.
• Two have lost their starting jobs (one to a new team) to White quarterbacks.
• Two are out of the league.
• And three are backups to other Black quarterbacks.

What's the point of the entire exercise?

Even with 70% of the players Black, it is still a White Quarterbacks league.

So WHICH PLAYERS are you talking about, Commissioner Goodell?