Lamar Jackson is an NFL player and the starting quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens. He has been playing quarterback his whole life. And he's been playing it at an incredibly high level. Yet people still wanted to call him a running back.
He was a four-star recruit at quarterback coming out of high school and people still called him a running back.
Even though he only spent three years at the University of Louisville, he was arguably the best quarterback in the school's history. While he did run for 50 touchdowns, he also passed for over 9,000 yards and 69 touchdowns. Yet fans and sports pundits still wanted to reduce him to a running back.
Calling Lamar Jackson a running back is extremely disrespectful, not only because it disregards all the hard work he has put in to get to this point in his life, but also because it is steeped in racial undertones. To understand this, you have to understand the history of American football.
History Lesson Time: When the National Football League began, it was somewhat inclusive. African-American players were allowed on teams, but there were never many. From the years 1920 and 1926, nine players suited up for NFL teams. However, from 1928 to 1932, no more than one Black player could be found on a team. This drop off happened for reasons that are still unexplained to this day. But the biggest blow to African-Americans in the league was the entry of George Preston Marshall, the owner of the Washington Redskins. He wasn't ashamed of his ill will towards Black people and his acts and feelings of racism were well documented. He was able to use his power and influence to keep minority players out of the NFL. The league was like this from 1933 until 1945.
Even after Black players were allowed back into the league, there were still no Black starting quarterbacks. Black players were deemed to "stupid" to play a position as cerebral as quarterback. We were viewed to be not as tough as white players and to be poor decision makers. This perception began to change when Doug Williams became the first Black quarterback to play (and WIN) in a Super Bowl in 1987.
History Lesson Over.
After being educated on the history of American football, you can now see why it is disrespectful to call Lamar Jackson a running back. That is why seeing his success on Sunday brought me immense joy. He had the best game of his professional career, throwing for five touchdowns and 324 yards with only three incompletions. Lamar Jackson is a quarterback and it's time for EVERYONE to accept it.