Racial issues faced by Black quarterbacks

Controversy in American football In gridiron football and its variants, American football and Canadian football, the quarterback position is often considered the most important on the team. While there have been a growing number of players of African or minority descent throughout the history of collegiate and professional football, Black players have historically faced difficulty in landing and retaining quarterback roles due to a number of factors. In addition, some Black quarterbacks claim to have experienced bias towards or against them due to their race. Black players as a whole are disproportionately overrepresented in the NFL, being only ~13% of the U.S. population yet 67% of NFL players are Black, with 17% of quarterbacks being Black. (As of late 2025, 50% of starting Quarterbacks in the NFL are African American.) History Since the earliest days of professional and college football, the number of Black players, let alone quarterbacks, has been on the rise. The first Black quarterback to start professionally was Bernie Custis for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League in 1951. The first two in the United States were Marlin Briscoe and James Harris, both of t