Legacy of Black QBs on the Raiders and in the NFL

Legacy of Black QBs on the Raiders and in the NFL

The history of Black QBs on the Raiders, Chiefs, and Eagles

The Raiders looked like they would be one of the trailblazers as they drafted Eldridge Dickey out of Tennessee State University in the first round of the 1968 NFL/AFL Draft. Dickey became the first Black quarterback selected in the first round by either an NFL or AFL team but unfortunately, he was moved to wide receiver after training camp.

There were claims that he outplayed fellow rookie Ken Stabler in camp but the Raiders seemed to make the right decision by going with the future Hall of Famer but there will always be the what-if of what could’ve been for Dickey. He was reportedly heartbroken by the decision and only played in the AFL for three years before being released.

The two teams in the Super Bowl have vastly different records of starting Black quarterbacks as the Eagles had George Taliaferro in the pre-Super Bowl era and their first Black QB in the Super Bowl era was Randall Cunningham in 1985. The Eagles have had 11 Black starters over the course of their history including guys like Rodney Peete, Donovan McNabb, Michael Vick, and most recently Jalen Hurts.

The Chiefs, one of the older franchises in the AFL and NFL, waited all the way until the year 2000 when they started Warren Moon as their first Black starting quarterback and have had just three since their inception in 1960 including Patrick Mahomes.

The Raiders are similar to the Eagles in that they had their first Black starting QB in 1987 in former USC signal-caller Vince Evans. The former Bear spent the last eight years of his career from 1987-95 with the Raiders and started seven games over that span.

Since Evans’ first start, the Raiders have had 10 Black starting QBs with Jamarcus Russell, Jason Campbell, and Terrelle Pryor being the most well-known of the group.

In the pre-Super Bowl era, there were a few Black quarterbacks that got a chance to start for teams like the Milwaukee Badgers, Akron Pros, New York Yanks, Chicago Bears,  Philadelphia Eagles, and Green Bay Packers. Some are well known like Fritz Pollard in the 1920s and others like the aforementioned George Taliaferro and Willie Thrower in the 1950s, were less heralded but were still trailblazers in their own way.