PITTSBURGH — Kordell Stewart penned an incredible story for the Players Tribune about his time as the Steelers' quarterback. It is a depressing read as he was the subject of vicious rumors and racism, and he clearly was never comfortable with the way the Steelers viewed him on the field.
Stewart endured a lot of nonsense because of the color of his skin and the ignorance of some people in this town who hated him for it. I've heard people explain this town wasn't ready for a Black quarterback, which is incredible seeing as that was the mid-1990s and not the 1950s. Fans, he said, wanted him to be the "slash" player who did a little of everything but couldn't accept him as just the quarterback.
It was an ugly time and frankly, like I said, thinking about some of the things he wrote in this story is depressing. But there is actually a very bright silver lining to that story when you consider the NFL today. It reminds us how far as a society we have come with respect to how we view Black quarterbacks.
That's right, Stewart was a pioneer and ahead of his time. The fact that he did lead the Steelers to two AFC title games showed some NFL execs that quarterbacks don't have to be 6-5, drop back passers to win in the NFL.
Obviously Doug Williams — who won a Super Bowl — and Warren Moon — who is in the Hall of Fame — blazed a trail before Stewart. Moon had to go to the Canadian Football League and win a bunch of Grey Cups before he was taken seriously as a quarterback, and Williams had to win the Super Bowl to prove a Black quarterback had the "necessities" that could lift a team to those heights.
But those two were far more similar to their white counterparts in terms of the way they played than they were to Stewart and even Randall Cunningham, for that matter. Williams and Moon were both drop back passers who were important in breaking stereotypes that Black men weren't cerebral enough to play the position.
Stewart and Cunningham were dual threats who could beat you with their legs and their arms. They could be used in a million ways behind center and in some ways coaches around the league were resistant to that kind of player. The thought was he would get hurt too much, he wasn't accurate enough throwing, that defenses were too fast and would figure it out too quickly.
Stewart and Cunningham showed the way and constantly had to answer the "Yeah, but" questions. But now every team in the NFL is looking for their own version of that kind of quarterback. Michael Vick was the first to probably benefit from changing attitudes and had a chance to be a legitimate superstar before his off field troubles.
Now think about the best quarterbacks in the league, think about what every team is trying to do on offense and think about how they desire dual threat quarterbacks. Stewart — a better throwing version of Lamar Jackson — would be a star these days.
Sunday evening we will all sit down at about 6:15 or whatever and get ready to watch Patrick Mahomes in the Super Bowl. Very few, if any, discussions are about his race and mostly because Black quarterbacks now — unlike when Stewart played — aren't rare.
And more importantly, star Black quarterbacks aren't really rare, either. Jackson is often criticized for his inability to win in the playoffs (he is 1-3), but let's not forget he was the MVP of the NFL last season. He has star power written all over him. The Ravens know it and are more than comfortable building an offense around his talents.
Mahomes has a chance to be the best of all time, is one of the most popular players in the NFL and some would say the face of the NFL right now, yet very few people I know reference the fact that he is a Black quarterback. The same can be said about Russell Wilson and DeShaun Watson, who are among the top three or four quarterbacks in the league.
Josh Allen is white, but get this: He plays a lot more like Stewart than he does Dan Marino or Joe Montana. His athleticism was one of the reasons he was drafted so high.
Heck, even the first pick in this upcoming draft, Trevor Lawrence, is the traditional tall, strong, big-armed passer. You know what puts him way over the top of everyone else who will enter the draft? He can do all that with his arm, AND he is an excellent runner who is comfortable making big plays with his legs.
Maybe in the mid-1990s we were still stuck in stone ages when it came to attitudes about quarterbacks, but Stewart was one of the men who started changing hearts and minds on the subject. Stewart — and Cunningham — showed a running quarterback is a lethal weapon and led the way for a lot of quarterbacks who came after them.
Mahomes, Watson, Wilson and Jackson are all regarded as great quarterbacks and there is no need for qualifiers about the color of their skin. We rarely talk about Black quarterbacks being Black any more because it is so common, so accepted and so, um, normal.
Stewart, like most pioneers, had a rough ride in his time, but it was important he took it because he helped change attitudes about quarterbacks that look and play like him. And that change has been for the better.
