Evolution of the Black Quarterback (2024) s01e03 Episode Script

1
[commentator 1]
This is the most wide-open draft
that involves quarterbacks I can recall.
[commentator 2] Young.
Does what Bryce Young does.
[commentator 3]
C.J. Stroud to the end zone.
Touchdown!
[commentator 4] He'll take off and run.
Are you kidding me?
[Vick] The latest stop on my journey.
I'm at the NFL draft in Kansas City.
There's some history that's gonna
be made tonight, I got a feeling.
And I'm excited about it.
And I know the teams with
the first ten picks are excited as well.
What's up, baby? What's good?
-What's going on?
-Nothin' much.
-[speaks indistinctly]
-You see see what I like now
-First of all, you look good.
-Appreciate you, my man.
-You look good. You too.
-[Young] Appreciate that.
-What's going on?
-How you doing?
Now when I came to the draft,
I had the baggy suit on.
Take it back to '01.
These boys got their fitted suits on,
shoes look good. Amazing, man.
What was the coolest part
about this draft process?
-Combine. Combine was good for me.
-[Vick] Yeah.
And then Pro Day was
another good one for me.
[Vick] Yeah, yeah. What about you, Ry?
Honestly, it's a weird
Like, it's a unique experience,
but going through that, like, I feel like
it brings us, like, closer as a class.
-You feel me?
-[Vick] Yeah, yeah.
-What's up? All right, how you doing, man?
-Bryce's dad. Nice to meet you.
Looking good. The-The moment has come.
[Craig] Yes. Yes. Yes.
Just from a dad who had to navigate this,
thank you for what you did.
Bryce couldn't be where he is,
and especially with his size
and being Black and being mobile
-Yeah.
-if it wasn't for you.
You opened the door for that,
you blazed that trail for
African American quarterbacks
and showed that you
can do it a different way.
[Vick] Yeah.
-C.J., what's good, baby? How are you?
-Great to meet you.
Nice to meet you, too.
-How you doing? Straight?
-Good. I'm good.
-How about you?
-Yes, sir. I'm good. I'm blessed, man.
-Appreciate you.
-I love that.
-Yes, sir. I got it from you.
-Yeah, no doubt.
Yeah, you was my idol
growing up, for sure.
-Thank you, man.
-Appreciate you inspiring me.
-Means a lot.
-Absolutely.
I'm excited to see where you end up.
-Appreciate you.
-You got it, baby.
-Look good, too.
-Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it.
-Keep up the good work, baby.
-Yes, sir.
-[person 1] Can we get a picture?
-Yeah.
[camera shutter clicks]
[person 2] All right, everybody.
Trying to get ready here
[crowd clamoring]
[crew member] Get everything installed.
Here we go.
With the first pick in the 2023 NFL draft,
the Carolina Panthers select Bryce Young.
-I knew it. I knew it was gonna be Bryce.
-[crowd cheering]
[Vick] Congratulations, Bryce.
He in really good hands.
[commentator 1] Carolina has needed
a quarterback for a couple of years now.
-What are you bringing to this team?
-Everything I have.
We got the second pick.
About to say,
more history about to be made.
C.J. Stroud, second pick, Houston Texans.
With the second pick
in the 2023 NFL draft,
the Houston Texans select C.J. Stroud.
-[crowd cheering]
-Two for two.
Let's go!
[Vick applauding] Let's go, C.J.!
So history already been made
when we had Black quarterbacks
get selected number one.
Myself, Cam Newton.
But this is the first time in history
where we had two Black quarterbacks
get taken number one and number two.
And so we continue to make history.
We continue to evolve.
The league is gradually
changing for the better.
Proud to see that two Black quarterbacks
got drafted number one and number two.
-It's an amazing feat.
-[Goodell] With the fourth pick,
the Indianapolis Colts
select Anthony Richardson.
-Oh!
-[crowd cheering]
So, we got three Black quarterbacks
taken in the first four picks, man.
Unprecedented.
Love the game of football and what it's
done for so many people, including myself.
Great game, man. Amazing game.
[no audible dialogue]
[reporter 1] The Negro is proud of
the advancement his race is making.
[commentator 1] That colored boy
is sure getting under their skin.
[commentator 2] Kenny Washington's
getting the ball, fakes a pass.
-He's going to run with it.
-[commentator 3] Let's go a long run!
[reporter 2] Government was
intended to be for the White man.
[Malcolm X]
We didn't land on Plymouth Rock.
The rock was landed on us.
[reporter 3] Coaches seem to believe
that Blacks are inferior thinkers.
[George Wallace] and segregation forever.
I am a revolutionary.
[commentator 4] Briscoe for the touchdown.
[Jimmy Snyder]
The Black is a better athlete
because he's been bred to be that way.
[reporter 4] I hope Doug Williams
puts to bed about
the Black athlete once and for all
in professional football.
[Campanis] How many quarterbacks
do you have that are Black?
They may not have the necessities
[commentator 5]
Falcons select Michael Vick.
[Obama] There is not
a Black America and a White America.
-There's the United States of America.
-[Lester Holt] An unarmed African American
-teenager was shot and killed.
-[reporter 5] There is an awakening
[reporter 6] The emergence of
the Black quarterback is not a myth.
[commentator 6] And Patrick
Mahomes's revolution continues!
[Vick] The one-two punch
of the class of '99,
and the Falcons taking me number one
two years later opened the floodgates.
Black quarterbacks were everywhere
and celebrated in every form and fashion.
But more of a profile
meant more responsibilities,
on the field and off the field.
[Boyd] There's now
an appreciation for the style
that many Black quarterbacks play
and the way that they go about conducting
themselves and leading their team.
[Wyche] People may say, "Look,
Jalen Hurts, Patrick Mahomes
playing in the Super Bowl.
First time,
two Black quarterbacks faced off,
first three quarterbacks taken
in the 2023 draft were Black.
Like, we're on equal footing."
And you know, I would say so.
The progress has been made where people
are giving opportunities based on merit.
And I And I think
that itself is a celebration,
because for those in certain communities,
we just don't see that.
So, this is like an era that I call
the post-Obama quarterback era.
And that is that I think this generation,
whether it's other players,
whether it's coaches
and regardless of their political views,
they are accustomed to seeing
Black men in leadership positions.
They saw the leader of
the free world as a Black man.
So people aren't necessarily having
these same questions about
intellect, about ability to read
defenses and we've seen, you know,
some of the best quarterback play
in the history of the game.
So, I think it's definitely
a moment of progress that we can point to.
Sports is always a reflection
of our broader society.
It's why you first start to see
Black quarterbacks
coinciding with the Black freedom
struggle of the '60s and '70s.
It's why you saw the difficulty of
Black quarterbacks finding their way
into the league in the 1980s.
It's why you started to see that
crack open in the 1990s.
And it's why today, largely due
to social media, there is more of a voice
from communities of color
than we've seen in the past.
So it's not surprising to me that
you would also see a greater prominence
of the Black quarterback speaking out.
-[crowd cheering]
-[commentator 1] Wilson fires.
Touchdown, Seahawks!
[commentator 2] Touchdown, Denver.
[commentator 3] Wilson throwing,
and it's caught for the touchdown!
-Hey. What's up, baby?
-[Vick] There he is. Big all day.
-How you feeling? Good to see you, man.
-Thanks for joining. Good to see you, man.
I'm doing great, man.
-It's an honor to sit with you, man.
-Absolutely. Vice versa.
So, I wanna talk to you about
how you came to becoming a quarterback.
First of all, shout-out to VA.
-No doubt.
-We're both from Virginia.
That's where the true ballers come from.
-VA is home.
-I I grew up watching you,
you know, one of the most electric players
on the planet
in any sport, and that was you.
Then you go to Virginia Tech
and I knew I wanted to be like you.
I wanted to be this guy
that could scramble, make plays,
be dominant on the field.
[commentator 1]
What a move by Russell Wilson.
What age did you
start playing quarterback,
and you was like,
"Okay, this is gonna be my position"?
Funny story, I didn't start playing
in a league until seventh grade.
-Okay.
-[Wilson] When we were playing recess,
when we're in the backyard,
I was playing quarterback.
But my parents didn't want me
to play tackle football
-until seventh grade.
-Makes sense.
We were always tackling in
the backyard on snowy days in Virginia.
So for me, I was a big baseball player.
What happened was I got called up.
It was Friday night. The coach was like,
"Can you come play on our team?"
So we're about to play Saturday morning
and Friday night we had practice.
Well, I hadn't been to any of
the practices, so I go out and throw.
And so I chucked this ball
all the way down the field
and I throw this ball about 60 yards.
But the coach is like, "Man."
So the next day, um,
I'm-I'm the backup quarterback.
First play quarterback drops back
[grunts] bang, busts them open.
And, uh, I have to go into the game.
-What happened?
-I-I end up drawing the plays in the dirt.
We beat them boys about 60-7.
That was my first real experience
of playing football,
and that's when I knew that
I wanted to do it for the rest of my life.
[crowd cheering]
I watched you in college
and-and I know you was NC State at first,
and then you ended up in Wisconsin.
Tell me what happened with that,
because I was a little confused.
Because I thought NC State was crazy
for letting you get up out of there.
Right before I go to NC State
I'm about to get drafted in baseball.
I-I got offered like $1.1, $1.2 million.
I say "No, I want $1.5, or I'm gonna go?"
And so that was my number.
Well, I turned it down.
I wanna play football
and baseball in college.
-Right.
-I go to NC State.
But when I turn it down, my dad's like,
"Hey, listen,
if you're gonna turn that down,
I wanna make sure
you graduate in three years."
I said, "What? Graduate in three years
while playing football and baseball?"
So he's like, "Hey,
I want you to try to get all this done."
So I-I had to shake on it.
My dad, he played football
and baseball at Dartmouth.
He got to try out with
the San Diego Chargers.
But he was the one who taught me.
Every morning he would
wake me up at 5:00, 5:15 in the morning.
-"Hey-Hey, son, we gotta go."
-Let's go get it.
He was a lawyer and he would wake me up
and take me to, you know, hit grounders
and he'd take me to, you know,
throw deep post routes
to my brother early in the morning.
And that-that created drive in me,
and really taught me,
-you know, how to persevere.
-Yeah.
[Wilson] And so fast forward,
I get to NC State and my dad gets sick,
you know, one of
the first weeks I get there.
He had diabetes, his leg sw-swole up
and they had to amputate his leg.
And, um, that-that was
hard on me because of
It challenged me
in such a way, personally
Yeah.
but also made me the man that I am today
Absolutely. Yeah.
and knowing that you
can overcome any obstacles.
So, I go to NC State. The first
three years are great, I graduate early.
And then my coach says,
"You're not gonna be able
to play in the NFL. You're too small."
-And, uh
-Wow. Okay.
And so I'm like, well,
I ain't giving up on my dream.
So I get a call.
First call is from Auburn.
-Yeah.
-The next call is from Wisconsin,
then I get a whole bunch of calls.
And my agent found a loophole
in the NCAA rules
-that if you graduated early
-[Vick] Yeah.
[Wilson] that you could play right away.
So that goes back to my dad,
my dad saying "I want you to graduate
in three years" not knowing.
And the real reason
why I went to Wisconsin,
my brother did pros and cons and he said,
"Listen, you're 5'11",
and the reality is everybody's
-gonna say you're too short still."
-Right.
"So if you can prove that you can play
behind these big offensive linemen
in Wisconsin,
they can't have anything to say."
[Vick] Wow.
[Wilson] So Wisconsin was
the perfect spot for me.
[crowd cheering]
[Staff Sgt. Marlon Green]
With the 75th pick in the 2012 NFL draft,
the Seattle Seahawks
select Russell Wilson.
[commentator 1]
Gonna lay it up over the top.
Touchdown, Seahawks!
[commentator 2]
What a play by Russell Wilson.
Fast forward to your NFL career.
You get drafted to Seattle third round,
you end up playing,
win the Super Bowl a year later,
bunch of Pro Bowls.
Like when you got to the NFL, could you
foresee this happening in your career?
I was fortunate
to be able to go to a good football team,
and they had a lot of great players.
And I think the best part about it,
we were all competitive.
We were all underdogs.
Guys like Sherm, Earl Thomas,
Kam Chancellor, Bobby Wagner,
Doug Baldwin, obviously Marshawn.
-[commentator 1] Marshawn, what a run!
-[commentator 2] Are you kidding me?
I-I knew that I was gonna take that job.
I knew that I was gonna come in there
and be the first one there,
the last to leave.
I was gonna be the one
that wanted to put the work in
and I was willing to go the distance.
[Wilson] At the beginning of the year,
I asked y'all boys, "Why not us?"
We're here for a reason
and let's go prove it tonight.
[commentator 2] It doesn't
get bigger than this.
They're excited, they're emotional
and they're ready to play.
[Wilson] Let's go!
[commentator 3] And Seattle is making
it look easy against the Denver Broncos.
[Vick] Being the second
Black quarterback to win a Super Bowl,
it meant so much for us,
but what did it mean for you personally?
Yeah, man, it-it was a dream come true.
When you think about Doug Williams being
the first Black quarterback to ever win
and there was
this time period of space in between,
do you sometimes as a player,
you kinda question why?
You know,
why has this been so much distance?
[Vick] Yeah.
[Wilson] That was
the driving force behind my mentality is,
my dad used to say, "Why not you, son?"
[Vick] Yeah.
[Wilson] To be able
to be the second Black quarterback
-to win the Super Bowl was historic.
-[Vick] Yeah.
I know my grandfather's smiling
up in heaven every day. My dad too.
Did you ever had to deal with,
like, any racial issues?
I know I had to deal with them
on a couple of different occasions.
A time that was really tough on me is
I-I just, uh I'd just won a Super Bowl
and it's that offseason and I'm sitting
there and I'm about to go play some golf.
I was just kind of
getting to the golf course
and I go to this, you know,
this nice country club.
I remember getting breakfast,
and the guy comes up to me and goes,
you know, "Golfers only."
-Right.
-I thought the guy was joking at first.
So I kind of laughed and
and he kind of looked at me.
He says, "That-That's not for you."
And it kinda went a little bit further,
a little bit further.
And it's that, like,
"What are you doing here?
You're not supposed to be here."
He told me
and I-I just remember, um, that moment.
Even though you, we could be at
the highest point of our careers
and the same time,
still face a low moment.
That's when you realize that,
you know, um, people still need healing.
Yeah, man.
[Vick] Cam. What's up, baby?
-My guy. Good to see you.
-Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
-Looking good.
-You look better. [chuckles]
-What can I say?
-[laughs]
So when I was in high school,
a guy looked at me and instantly
he told me I was gonna be a DB.
Mmm.
Have you ever had to deal
with something like that with
Somebody looked at you, might have been
a coach or somebody was recruiting you,
and said you're gonna
play a different position.
Yes.
My whole recruiting process was the
battle between being stern on me knowing
that I'm a quarterback and somebody else
thinking I was another position.
The most influential person
in my life was my father.
And he told me then,
he's like "Bro, when you make this
decision to play quarterback,
you're a quarterback.
Don't let nobody ever tell you different.
You're cerebral enough.
You understand the game enough."
And our stigma has always been,
we don't we don't know enough.
We're not able to digest the playbook.
We're not able to understand coverages,
things like that.
In and out of the huddle.
See, I look at me and you as two guys
who revolutionized the position.
You know, we changed the game.
I look at you as a guy who took the
torch and-and continued to run with it.
Who was some guys that
you paid attention to in the past
that helped shape and mold you?
I mean, I'm not just saying this
just because you're here,
but you gotta understand
my dynamic as I grew.
I'm from Atlanta, Georgia.
I say that proudly.
And when I was coming up,
you was that guy.
[commentator 1] Holy cow!
[commentator 2]
The vision and the footwork.
[commentator 3]
He fires the football. Touchdown!
[Newton] You was the man
that every person wanted to be.
And the fact that you played in Atlanta
for the Falcons, that's all we saw.
That's all we heard of.
To be able to relate
to somebody that looked like me,
act like me,
have the same cultural values.
It hit different.
So, yeah, I was a fan of Warren Moon.
I was a fan of Randall Cunningham.
I was a fan of all these
different Black quarterbacks,
but the one that hit home for me
was Michael Vick,
in a sense where the time that
I needed you the most, you delivered.
[commentator 3] He is looking deep.
I had a perfect indication
of what a dynamic player was,
playing the quarterback position
right in my hometown.
Yeah.
So when I was going outside to throw
the ball and dreaming to myself,
you know,
"I'm Vick, I'm this, I'm that, I'm that."
-[laughs]
-And But it was that thing of
being a dynamic, dominant player
and imposing your will
the only way you know how to do it.
[commentator 4] How about that!
-[commentator 5] How does he do that?
-[commentator 6] in trouble.
-Dances away.
-[commentator 7] Breaks a tackle.
Breaks another tackle. Wow, what a run!
[commentator 9] You saw
Superman take off his cape.
I'm back!
You brought style to the game.
Mmm.
The one thing people wanted to see was Cam
walking up and how he was gonna look.
[Newton]
For me, I grew up in a church, man.
My father's a preacher, still a preacher.
And even though the great book of
the Bible says, "Come as you are,"
my grandmother would not allow me
to just come into church,
you know, with some flip-flops on,
you know what I'm saying, some gym shorts.
Like me.
It was smell the part,
look the part and even act the part.
And then when I had my platform
to show I'm comfortable
expressing myself through fashion,
whether it was a very flamboyant outfit
or just something that
was just very subtle,
I just wanted to show that.
Still fly and fresh
and one of the game's best.
I got a question
that I wanna ask you, bro.
Go ahead. [chuckles]
Especially a person like you
who has impacted the game
in a way that without Michael Vick, there
would never be opportunity for Cam Newton.
[Vick] Yeah.
What's more important,
championships or impact?
What would you say is important?
[grunts] I would say impact
and-and it's simply because
I think everything we just talked about
from culture, style to just the history
-Mm-hmm.
-you know, it's-it's about the impact.
It's about the imprint that you leave
in the game,
because you got so many young men
-following you, watching you
-[Newton] Yeah.
listening to you,
studying you, scrutinizing you.
And I think it's bigger than stats,
you know, it's always gonna
be about legacy and I think your legacy,
our legacies, will forever live on.
And that's because of
the impact we had on the game.
[commentator 1] Michael Vick, unstoppable.
[commentator 2]
Cam Newton just outruns him.
-[commentator 3] Turning on the jets.
-[commentator 4] Look at that speed!
[commentator 5] Still on his feet.
[commentator 6] He's still going.
[commentator 7] It's like a man with boys.
[commentator 8] What a superstar!
[commentator 9] That ball is on a rope.
[commentator 10] He does it all, folks.
I don't want people
to take this the wrong way,
-but it supersedes championships.
-Yes, sir.
Because it sets up
for the next generation.
It's crazy because I don't
even think you even remember this.
Like for me, your impact alone while
you was in at Virginia Tech, right,
and you took the college football world
by storm.
You did, like, a sit-down interview
or was it like an article?
And I was like, "Man, Michael Vick say
when he goes into the convenience store,
he always get the ChapStick,
the strawberry."
-Or was it like the cherry ChapStick?
-[Vick] Yeah.
I was trying to get a ChapStick deal.
So every time I go
into a convenience store, bro,
I'm going to get the cherry ChapStick.
I probably done swiped out so many
cherry ChapSticks or strawberry ChapStick.
Just off of the principle of
saying my hero, right?
The person that I look up to,
he used this,
and in Spike Lee's words,
"Is it the shoes?"
I was saying
"Shit, it's the damn ChapStick."
That's why this mother
over here swiveling
-and running for 80.
-[Vick] Running for everything.
[Newton] You dig what I'm saying?
So for me and whether you see my fashion,
whether you see myself
being unapologetically me,
whether you see the size, the stature,
the happiness, the joy, the fun,
it's for somebody younger than me
to be able to say,
"Bro, Cam did it like this."
[exclaiming]
Hey! Let's do it,
let's do it, let's do it.
Hello?
[laughing]
Ah!
[crowd cheering]
[shouting]
There was times that I was questioned
in terms of running the football too much,
-and would that style be efficient
-Sustainable.
in the National Football League?
And I even thought about,
"I just need to be a pocket passer,"
like, my first, second year.
But then I was like,
"You know what. If I just keep going
at the pace that I'm going,
if I can continue to amass certain amounts
of yards passing every year
and rushing every year,
then there's a kid that's watching,"
and that kid was you.
And, uh, I'm proud that
I had that impact on you.
The summer of 2020,
the social justice movement
was at an all-time high.
Speak about that
and what that really meant to you.
When you talk about Black Lives Matter,
I am as American as American could be.
But first, I'm a Black man.
You know, I really never even
even spoke on it before.
But Colin Kaepernick,
you know, took the world by storm
by doing something that was
so heroic for him and for us.
For us.
He was just standing for something,
or kneeling for something,
that it still ain't right to this day.
People don't understand.
[Newton] We had an individual
on our team at the time.
I think it was around 2018, 2019,
Eric Reid.
My guy.
And when he came, I didn't
necessarily know what they was doing
or the magnitude what was really
going on and why they was doing
-what they was doing.
-[Vick] Yeah.
[Newton] But when you have
them locker room talks and, you know,
it hit a little different when you're
able to really see eyeball to eyeball
with another individual and say,
"Man, this is what we believe in.
We want inclusion with everybody.
We wanna bring a lot of awareness
to the unjust system
that's out there right now."
-[Vick] Yep.
-And for me,
I think the challenge for everybody
was to stand for something, do something.
And I may not have took a knee,
but I impacted my community
in the best way that I know how.
And that's really taking kids
that come from economic challenging homes
or single-parent homes and say,
"Hey, bro. You can be just like me."
And once you get to
the top of the mountain,
it's not for you to look down at people
and say, "Ah-ha, look at me. I made it."
It's more or less that you reach back
and you bring somebody else too
to empower them to say,
"Even though
we are heroes in our own right,
we also are the voice for so many people
that would never
have this platform to speak on."
So, what Colin did was something
that was very,
very selfless of himself to do.
The people who got it,
I tip my hat to them.
The people who didn't get it,
it's-it's-it's just a shame.
-Yeah.
-You know what I'm saying?
Because when I hear Black Lives Matter,
that's not something that says, you know,
Black people is better or-or, you know,
they want more attention
than anybody else.
It's no different than
somebody standing for gay rights.
It's somebody that's standing up
for women rights.
And that's it.
They just wanted to bring awareness to
that and it impacted me enough to say,
"Man, I'm gonna do right
by my own platform."
Couldn't have said it no better.
-Yes, sir.
-Damn.
-Appreciate you.
-Thank you, bro.
-[vocalizes]
-My man.
[Vick] To even play
a small part in Cam's story means a lot.
It means even more to see how he's
using his star power to pay it forward.
-[Dak] What's up?
-What's up, baby? Looking good.
-Let's do it.
-Yeah.
Dak, man, thanks for joining me.
It's an honor and a pleasure
to be sitting here.
And I-I wanna know,
for those who never seen you play
Describe yourself as a quarterback.
Selfless.
-[commentator 1] Zeke, touchdown!
-Determined.
[commentator 2] They blitz him
and Prescott escapes.
[Dak] Willing to do
whatever it is to win for his team.
-[Vick] Yeah.
-[Dak] Period.
Take me back to when you first knew
you was gonna be a quarterback.
Started playing football in third grade,
but I was running back.
Coach's son is always the quarterback.
So, uh, that's how that situation was
until the sixth grade.
That coach had to leave.
Another coach moved me in to play
quarterback and the rest was history.
So you had this amazing career
at Mississippi State.
You get drafted
in the fourth round to Dallas,
and then you actually
end up playing as a rookie.
Was you ready for that?
And-And what was that experience like?
'Cause a lot of guys don't step in
and play and have success.
Yeah. No, I was definitely ready for it.
Didn't think that opportunity
was gonna come as fast as it did
or as early as it did.
Having Kellen Moore get hurt
in training camp
and then Tony going down in preseason.
[commentator] Romo's hurt.
[Dak] Just really
preparing myself to make sure
that if that opportunity presents itself,
I'd take advantage of it.
[Vick] How did you manage that?
Because my rookie year,
it-it was tough for me.
I gotta give credit to
the team that we had.
I mean, all the future Hall of Famers
on that line
to Zeke in the backfield,
Dez Bryant and Jason Witten outside.
I was just surrounded
with a great support system
that just allowed me to go play my game.
[Vick] So, Dak,
you-you grew up in Louisiana.
When I had my conversations
with Doug Williams,
he grew up in Louisiana and it was,
you know, years ago
and it was difficult times
and I know you grew up
in a biracial household situation.
You feel like that helped you
be able to deal with a locker room
where it's diversity?
There's no doubt that I give,
uh, my background
and-and being biracial credit
for being able to bring that culture
into the locker room
and teammates following me.
And, I think, because of my experiences
and everything I've been through
and amazing parents educating me
on what difference between prejudice
and racism is, that understanding
that people are gonna be people,
um, but-but you have to know who you are
and be-be firm and faithful in that.
All the things that Doug
went through growing up,
that opened the path
and opened the door for me.
'Cause I've gotten to this position, not
only makes me appreciate this opportunity,
but it-it makes me wanna
hold that torch higher
and make sure that I represent not
only myself but being a Black quarterback.
And something that
I don't take for granted.
Talk to me about
about your mom, because I know
she was very influential in your life,
Dak, and, you know,
you probably wouldn't be here without her.
No, there's no "probably" about it.
Uh, I damn sure
wouldn't be here without her.
And, um, it just goes into who she was
and the way she raised me
and telling the difference between
being-being ignorant and not right.
And understanding, as I said,
people are gonna be people and,
uh, we don't judge, but understanding
that you will get judged.
So, everything that I do I just try to,
uh, be a reflection of her
and-and in the way that she raised me.
Yeah [stammers] not only did she instill
great qualities, she raised a great man.
-Appreciate you.
-Great to a point where
you ended up winning Man of the Year.
-Yeah.
-[crowd cheering]
It's very humbling to stand here
on this stage.
It's such an honor to be here tonight.
Now, mostly I wanna acknowledge the person
who has had the biggest influence
on my life. My mother.
[Dak] I think
I've always cared about people.
I've always wanted to make
this world a better place.
And on top of that, when my mom got sick
when I was in college, and she was
diagnosed with stage four cancer,
she told me,
"Dak, all greats have a story,
allow me to be your story."
And at the time, I-I don't need you
being sick to be my story
but to be honored as and receive
the Walter Payton Man of the Year
is a reflection of that [stammers]
of me carrying out
the challenge my mom put on me.
2020, that year
was tough for a lot of people.
And I read that you made a
million-dollar pledge to police training.
Like it takes a lot to step up
and do those type of things.
But, Dak, why did you feel you had to be
an example for so many
Black and White people?
Yeah, I mean, I just
I-I felt like action needed to happen.
Um.
Obviously, I was hurt as everybody else
was and-and confused
-in George Floyd
-[Vick] Same here. Yeah.
uh, and-and didn't really
know how to react initially,
wanted to react out of emotion.
Um. But-But don't really do that.
And so, a couple of days
together after a lot of thought,
working with my team, I made a pledge.
And I was like I wanted to use
my foundation and use my platform
to-to make an actual difference.
And, uh, my pledge was
to better the communities,
uh, by getting rid of that-that stigma
and being afraid of the law enforcement,
but in the same sense,
making sure that they are not policing
but serving their community the right way.
And so, uh,
it's literally to-to bridge the gap,
uh, between the law enforcement
and the community they serve.
The way that we're doing that
is by trying to infiltrate
the academies and get the bad out
and make sure that we're
teaching them the right ways
and to be understanding of
the community that they're serving.
[Vick] Being a Black quarterback
for America's team,
what does that say
about progress in your mind?
I think it says a lot about progress.
Uh.
You know, um, when I came
on my visit to Dallas, uh,
there was a player in the training room,
and I won't say the name.
Uh, and as I walked through,
he asked me who I am.
I say, "Dak Prescott.
Quarterback. Mississippi State."
And he goes, "Black quarterback?
You We won't have that."
So I'm Okay. And that's when I realized
the impact that I could serve or have is
or I guess the wall that
I was gonna be trying to break down
-Right.
-if I got drafted by them.
To say, a couple months later, when I
was drafted out and about on the town,
once again, introducing myself,
I think it's to a club promoter.
And she tells me again, "We'll never
have a Black quarterback in Dallas."
And so at those two times,
in those two moments,
I realized what I was gonna be facing.
Um, and, uh, maybe the difficulties
of it, I guess you can say.
But I-I There's some
Race is something I've
never really put into my head.
And [stammers] as I say, I give credit
to the people before me, credit to my mom,
the way that I was raised is "That's
your problem, that's not my problem."
I-I'm proud of-of
the position that I have.
All right, Dak.
So, we done went through everything.
And since we're at the movie theater,
we're gonna finish with
a couple commercials.
With DIRECTV, I can get live TV
and On Demand together.
-Ah.
-[actor] football housewife.
-[Vick] This is one of my favorites, Dak.
-[Dak laughs]
[Vick] You know, DIRECTV is a major brand.
-[Dak] Yeah.
-[Vick] And you represent a major brand.
-Who flips a table?
-[Dak] Yeah, that was a two-day set.
-That was a good time.
-That was two days?
Two days and one of my favorite sets
'cause CeeDee was on it.
-[crowd exclaiming]
-Ah. Yeah.
This the one I wanted to sneak in for you.
-[Dak] Yeah. I remember this.
-My time, it-it came and gone, but
Some things are legendary.
-[Vick laughs]
-[Dak] Yes. For sure remember this.
[Vick] This one's
definitely take me back, man.
-[Dak] It was before virtual reality.
-[Vick] Yeah.
-[crowd cheering]
-[commentators speaking indistinctly]
[screaming]
Well, that's not in the playbook,
but it should be.
[Lambre] The NFL is
a league driven by the teams.
The teams are the brands,
but when the NFL wants to sell games,
when they want to sell the teams,
the quarterback is who they
actually sell these games through.
When you start to see
Black quarterbacks emerge,
over time as spokespeople, as heroes.
That's a whole different thing.
Now, that took a very long time.
Even when Doug Williams is
winning Super Bowls, we don't have that.
It doesn't happen overnight.
You start to see a guy like Michael Vick.
Number one overall pick.
The Michael Vick experience.
[announcer] Welcome
to the Michael Vick experience.
[Boyd] Very strong Nike campaign.
A guy like Cam Newton,
number one overall pick.
-You can be my backup?
-Excuse me?
-And make Panthers fans forget about you?
-What?
Now we're in an era where you see
a guy like Patrick Mahomes or Dak Prescott
or Jalen Hurts who is
the face of their franchise.
At the same time,
they're also the face of the league.
It's incredibly important and significant
that we are seeing more Black quarterbacks
as the face of the league
and faces of the organization.
Seeing someone that
looks like you constantly on television,
having success, being interviewed,
you see them in commercials.
That encourages young people
to not only participate in the sport
but try out for that position.
And when they have success,
it encourages organizations that are owned
by White men to draft those players,
to develop those players,
to pay those players.
When these guys start
getting embraced by Madison Avenue,
that's a signal to the world
that these are the guys
that we're selling the game through.
Growing up, it wasn't
a lot of Black quarterbacks
in the National Football League,
and it certainly wasn't
a lot on TV or in movies,
but, uh, I guess times change.
It's the man right here.
-Legend.
-Baby, I made it.
-What's up, baby? How's it going?
-Legend, baby.
Man, I'm good. Come on in, man.
Let's chop it up.
-Yeah, absolutely, man. Let's go.
-Legend
-Jamie, you from Texas.
-Tejas, baby.
-A big football state
-Texas.
and you played quarterback,
and passed 4,000 yards.
I read up on it, man.
Tell me a little bit about
your-your high school career.
Nothing like it, man.
Like, I was a sophomore, 15. I'm trying
to get on the on varsity first.
[Vick] Yeah.
Pops was a coach at another school,
so I was disappointed
'cause they didn't come get me.
So I'm out there with JV.
I'm sitting there like,
"Damn, I didn't make it."
And then our coach, Coach Baylor,
we used to call him [stammers] Superman
because he looked like Christopher Reeve.
He come out there and said,
"I got a spot for you over
in the other locker room if you want."
I said, "Man, what?"
So I get moved up to varsity
-my sophomore year.
-[Vick] Yeah.
[Foxx] Living in the south,
the racial component was always prevalent.
-[Vick] Right, right.
-[Foxx] So,
I didn't blame people there
because the racial domino
had been pushed years ago.
Yeah, yeah.
So, when I see somebody
saying something racist to me,
I said, "Oh, man, that's your father,
your grandfather, your grand
So, you ain't un-understanding."
-So, it still hurt.
-Yeah.
But I was like, "I gotta survive."
My grandma's like, "Listen, look past it."
But when I play football,
and you get in that stance
That's why I wish
the whole world could play football.
-Yeah.
-'Cause when you under center,
-everybody love you.
-Yeah.
And then you hear,
"Bishop, the man under." [imitates echo]
And I said, "Oh, I'm about to show out."
Now, I did throw
a couple of interceptions.
It's nothing like throwing an interception
in a small town
-when the pastor is booing you.
-Yeah. Right, right, right. Damn.
-"Boy! Goddamn it, don't you" [chuckles]
-[chuckling]
[laughs] "You throwing to
the wrong person in the name of Jesus."
But Texas football, in that moment,
gave me what I have today in my drive.
[Vick] Right, right.
[Foxx] So I take
that same drive in the arts.
I'm never gonna be denied.
-I'm gonna continue to work on my craft.
-[Vick] Yeah.
[Foxx] I tell everybody in the business,
"The only thing that matters to us
is two words, action and cut.
And in between that time,
-tear they ass up."
-[chuckling] Damn right, man.
-"Tear they ass up."
-Yeah.
So I take that
quarterback mentality all the time.
So you leave Texas where
Football career, you know,
-it's not gonna happen.
-He ain't gonna do it.
I went to college on
a classical piano scholarship
but when I got to San Diego,
LA down the street.
-Yeah.
-I was always funny.
I would go to The Comedy Store
in San Diego,
but since I was 18,
they wouldn't let me in the club.
-[Vick] Yeah.
-[Foxx] I had to wait outside.
So I'm just waiting,
you know, for my time.
-Yeah.
-But then I get in on-on stage and rip.
Rock the mic.
And then I came to LA,
was the real testing ground.
Yeah.
So I go up one night
on a Monday night and
at The Comedy Store and it's Crip night.
-Yeah.
-[Foxx] The gangbangers.
But I'm from Texas, I don't know
nothing about no gangbangers, man.
Yeah.
So [chuckles] I go up and when I look
in the audience, everybody got on blue.
Okay.
So my first thing is that,
"Are y'all on a field trip?"
Yeah. [laughs]
Why you motherfuckers got on blue, man?
-Did you call him? And then
-Yeah.
But they embraced me.
That's how I cut my teeth
as far as stand-up is concerned.
Okay, so years later,
you were inspired to do Any Given Sunday.
Tell me all about that because now you're
going back to your days as a quarterback.
-Yeah
-So it's all in relation.
Any Given Sunday, first of all,
was a come up because at the time as
a comedian, I'm trying to be Eddie Murphy.
[Vick] Right.
[Foxx] Any Given Sunday come up.
They say, "Listen, they're not looking
for you but go read for Oliver Stone,"
biggest director in the world.
So I go read for another part.
Oliver Stone don't like me at all.
-He said, "[scoffs] You're too loud."
-Yeah.
Because I was doing all my jokes like,
"Yeah [laughs]
Any Given Sunday," you know.
Because I had been on In Living Color
and on TV, we loud.
Oh, you're stepping to me.
Now, why you Oh, cuz, don't do that.
-[laughter]
-Don't do that. Why? Why?
Oh, don't make me bust you up like that.
So he dismissed me,
but the casting agent said,
"Hey, can you come back
and read for another part?"
But I felt disrespected
but I come back, read for the other part.
I get it, but I feel
disrespected by Oliver Stone.
So when he bring me back in, I said,
"Hey, man, I just wanna
holler at you, man,
about how you treated me in the process."
He said,
"Man, aw shut up. You got the part,"
he said, "but it was for a side part."
Yeah.
He said, "But I got a problem.
I need somebody to play the main guy,
somebody that could play the quarterback."
I said, "Well, listen, man. I don't know
about all these cameras and shit."
-Yeah.
-"I did that."
-[Vick] I did that. Yeah. Yeah.
-I said, "I-I do it on a different level."
So I become the quarterback
on Any Given Sunday.
[Vick] Willie Beamen
became a legendary character, like, we
People was coming to me like, "That
was designed because of what you did."
Of course.
And I was telling Oliver Stone,
if you want a Black quarterback,
certain things you gotta have.
I said, "In the movie when-when
you're showing your Black players,
-play Black music."
-[Vick] Yeah.
Showing your White players,
play rock and roll.
Yeah.
And then Willie Beamen was
supposed to do a photo shoot.
I said, "Oliver, they don't do photo
shoots no more. They do music videos."
Yeah.
So I go in my apartment, come up with this
track. So we cook it up in the apartment,
show it to him.
He looked at it. He said, "That's it."
My name is Willie ♪
Willie Beamen ♪
I keep the ladies ♪
Creamin' ♪
And all my fans♪
Got 'em screamin' ♪
You probably weren't thinking it at the
time, but that's what the future became.
[Foxx] When Willie Beamen came along,
we saw remnants of who you are.
The swag is from you.
The confidence is from you.
The I'm-gonna-get-it-done-ness
is from you.
And you look at the quarterbacks of today,
it's not even a question.
And then when it came to
Look, man, it's Al Pacino.
[Vick] Right.
[Foxx] So I meet Al
Pacino for the first time.
I meet him in-in a
[stammers] We was in Santa Monica.
He had a hotel.
-[Vick] GOAT. Man, the GOAT.
-[Foxx] GOAT, right?
So I walk in, he's sitting in dim light.
I said, "Ooh, this
motherfucking Scarfather.
-Scarfather. Scarface and Godfather."
-[Vick] This is real.
I go up and I-I speak to him.
I said, "Um, Mr. Pacino"
[imitating Al Pacino]
"You like cranberry juice?"
[normal] I said, "What the fuck?" [laughs]
What do you mean?
[imitating Al Pacino]
"They have great cranberry juice here."
[normal] I said, "Yeah, man,
let me get some of that."
Come to find out,
he's not the gangster that you see,
he's a real thespian
and he really took care of me.
He's like, "Yo, I want you to tell me
what you need for the character."
And that movie will be
a textbook for what football films are.
And Oliver Stone is amazing.
He took a chance on me, man.
And I'm indebted to him, because that
changed the perception of who I was.
Because I was doing comedy.
I was Wanda, I was all that.
But when I played that character,
that opened up a lot of dramatic doors.
Actors, entertainers, football players,
basketball players, professional level,
we all got a responsibility
to the next generation, like
Now, here's what's crazy is that,
-it's on us.
-[Vick] Yeah.
Sometimes, I think, well, maybe it's not
fair because no one else has to do that.
-Right.
-But if we don't do it
-Nobody else is gonna do it. Yeah.
-Yeah, yeah.
Jamie, we've seen evolution
all across the board.
-Yeah.
-[Vick] You've been a part of that.
You've been an instrument of the change.
[Foxx] A lot of times they
didn't want us to celebrate us, you know,
for whatever reason.
But we past that now as Prime would
say, "We're not coming, we're here,"
and, uh, and it feels good and
I think everybody benefits from it.
[Vick] Everybody benefits,
and there's a lot to celebrate,
but unfortunately,
there's still a lot to do.
[Vick] There it is.
Oh! There it go.
[Vick] We've shown
we can be leaders on the field.
Even more important,
we've shown we can lead off the field.
Using our platforms,
using the same talents
that win games, for change.
You cannot write American history
of this era without Colin Kaepernick.
I'm not talking about sports history.
American history.
[Zirin] You can't understand
why Colin Kaepernick
made the cultural impact he did
without understanding the role
of a quarterback on the NFL team.
You're not just the leader,
you're not just
the most important player on the field,
you're also the public face of a team.
-[people chattering]
-These aren't new situations,
this isn't new ground.
It's things that have gone on
in this country for years and years
and have never been addressed.
And they need to be.
[Taylor] I think it was very significant
what Colin Kaepernick did
because conversations
are very important to progress.
Disrupters are very important to progress.
Colin introduced that conversation to a
lot of places and a lot of dinner tables,
a lot of barstool seats.
A lot of living rooms that
weren't having those conversations,
that weren't talking about
what he was protesting
and weren't having to have those
conversations with their parents,
with their grandparents,
with their uncles,
with their cousins, with their friends.
He sacrificed his NFL career
to take a knee
and force those conversations
into those rooms.
There are historical figures everywhere
that had to sacrifice in order to make
those conversations happen
and enforce change and he was one of them.
[reporter] Cassius Clay is sentenced
to five years in prison and fined $10,000.
[Zirin] The late 1960s was a period
known as The Black Athletes Revolt.
Often referred to in that regard
because of a host of athletes in a host
of different sports asserting themselves,
asserting their right to
have a voice in the sports world.
[Boyd] As we move forward,
opportunities present themselves.
Athletes are increasingly more visible.
Things seem to change at some level.
But there's this
constant streak of political issues
that come about in sports over time.
But it seemed as though
people had sort of forgotten about this.
And then Colin Kaepernick
protesting police brutality,
reignited a conversation
that had been dormant for a long time.
[Taylor] A lot of the people who
were very frustrated with Colin Kaepernick
when he first kneeled, fast forward
to 2020, had a change of heart.
[Wyche] And now looking at it
in the rearview mirror,
you have to say that
he was on to something.
[Rye] In 2020, we had the convergence
of so many different crises
happening at the same time.
When you consider the fact
that before George Floyd,
there was Breonna Taylor,
there was Ahmaud Arbery.
And for the first time in our history,
this country did not have
the benefit of looking away.
[Boyd] The combination of the COVID-19
pandemic and the killing of George Floyd
created this moment when
a movement seemed to emerge
and place a modern spin
on the sort of issues
that have long been circulating in public,
socially and politically.
[Nichols] One of the beauties
of this entire thing
is in 2020 when you saw some of
the kneeling going on throughout the NFL,
you saw White players, some,
in solidarity with their Black teammates.
And recognizing that "Hey, we share a
locker room together, that we're brothers.
And if you say you're hurting,
then I'm with you."
[Taylor] As an athlete,
you do have power in this platform.
And when you have these
hard conversations,
not only with your teammates
and the people around you,
but also with the world,
people have to pay attention.
I think 2020 really shifted
the narrative for athletes
and their voices and what they're able
to do with the platforms that they earned.
Not that they were given.
[Vick] Ben, I feel like we can't talk
evolution of the Black quarterback
without talking about Colin Kaepernick.
-When you see him speak out
-[Crump] Yeah.
and-and use his voice,
you had to be proud to see that.
Colin is an inspiration to so many
on a whole different level.
I mean, you had other athletes doing it,
but that quarterback position
was such a sacred position.
So, here you had Colin saying,
"I know I got this role as quarterback,
but I'm gonna use it to do even more."
Yeah.
When you think about them saying,
"Well, just shut up and dribble."
Or, "You just play ball and nothing else."
It's almost Harkens back to
the slave mentality, the plantation.
"Boy, you just do what I tell you to do.
You're not allowed to think for yourself,
you're not allowed to speak for yourself.
And your only mission for me
is you go run that football,
you go throw that football."
And so what Colin did with-with
breaking the shackles saying, you know,
"I can't keep turning a blind eye to
the pain and suffering of my people."
There are major developments tonight
in the case of
a neighborhood watch captain in Florida
who shot and killed
an unarmed 17-year-old.
The US Justice Department has now
opened a civil rights investigation,
and the local prosecutor
has convened a grand jury
to consider criminal charges.
[Vick] Being here in Florida,
Trayvon Martin situation.
He grew up five minutes away from here.
You took on that case.
[Crump] Yeah, I was
the lead lawyer both for Trayvon Martin
and George Floyd.
I represented Michael Brown,
Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery.
And Trayvon started it all, no doubt.
Trayvon was that case
that raised the consciousness level
of what Black people have to endure
in the United States of America.
Yeah. At any given time.
[Crump] Any given moment,
any given time, man.
He was just walking home with
a bag of Skittles and a can of iced tea,
minding his own business.
Seventeen years old and this neighborhood
watch volunteer would profile,
pursue him and shoot him in his heart.
Sports is phenomenal, dynamic in America.
Everybody's watching sports,
and it's a way to bring America together.
And when you all have
that microphone in front of you,
what you say speaks to America
like nobody else can speak to America.
[Vick] Colin Kaepernick. What's up, baby?
-Hey, what's happening, man?
-How you doing, big dog?
-Good to see you, man.
-Good to see you. How you been, man?
I've been good, man. You looking good,
man. What you working out,
-you staying in shape?
-Yeah, yeah. Always.
[Vick] Thanks for joining me, man.
Considered a hero by myself and many.
It's an honor to sit down with you.
Colin, describe your style of play.
Arm strength is always a piece of it.
[commentator 1]
And he throws at the end zone.
And it is caught for an
[commentator 2] An absolute laser throw.
[Kaepernick] But the other part
is when things break down,
I wanna be able to go 90 on you.
[commentator 3] Kaepernick, long strides.
Breaking to the clear.
It's a foot race and nobody
will catch Colin Kaepernick.
[Kaepernick] I like that balance
of being able to do both.
There's an element of whatever
you need me to do for us to win,
that's just gonna be what it is.
You know, I just wanna know a little bit
about how you got into the game.
I started playing football
at eight years old
and my first year of playing,
I played four plays,
two at defensive end, two at punter.
And then when I was nine years old,
my dad took over coaching,
-put me in at quarterback
-[Vick] Yeah.
and then
was quarterback up until middle school.
Did you wanna play quarterback
or did Pops just throw you at quarterback
because he knew you can handle it?
No, I-I always wanted to play quarterback.
[Vick] Yeah.
No one gave me that shot
that first year to even try.
Every level that I played at,
I started off as a backup.
Okay.
So, I was never put in the position that's
like, "Oh, that's the guy," out the gate.
-I always had to earn it every level.
-Right.
[Kaepernick] When I got to college,
I only had one scholarship offer.
And my coach told me after I graduated,
"Yeah, we gave you
the scholarship offer 'cause, you know,
we thought you might be able
to play quarterback.
But if you come, we're gonna put
you at receiver or safety anyways."
Damn.
Even the game that I went in to play
quarterback, our quarterback got injured.
Before the game I was
out there catching punts.
[Vick] Wow, that's crazy.
So, you enter into
the National Football League,
get drafted by the San Francisco 49ers.
The San Francisco 49ers
select Colin Kaepernick.
Quarterback, Nevada.
[Chris Berman] It's my guy, Mel.
-[Mel Kiper Jr.] You go, Boom.
-[Berman] It's my guy.
10,000 yards passing, 4,000 yards running.
The first guy ever to do it.
[Vick] Take over
pretty early for Alex Smith.
[Kaepernick] The first year, I got
to see everything and learn everything.
So when I came in that second year,
I knew I was ready.
I was like, "I'm coming to get this spot."
Damn.
The part that gave me confidence was
that offseason after practice,
Randy Moss, he was like,
"Yo, if we're gonna go to the Super Bowl
this year, you gotta take us there."
And I'm like, "Okay."
He's played with so many
Hall of Fame quarterbacks,
like, that confidence
from someone that I was like,
"Yo, this is
this is someone I look up to."
So, when Alex got injured and I came in,
-I knew what I was expected to do.
-[crowd cheering]
[commentator 1] Kaepernick strikes again.
[Vick] Your first year starting,
Green Bay Packers.
You have an amazing game.
You actually broke
my rushing record in that game.
[Kaepernick] When I think about that game,
I don't think most people realize
the first drive of that game.
I went out and threw a pick-six.
And I remember coming to the sideline
and seeing the whole team look at me like,
"Yo, is this what
you're gonna do in the playoffs?"
-You can feel that energy.
-That
That forever stuck in my mind.
And I was like, "We gotta come
back out and just keep swinging."
[commentator 2]
Kaepernick throws a slant
And throws a deep post.
Looking, throws the ball, it's caught!
Touchdown, 49ers.
Gonna run the ball to the five,
to the corner and in.
[commentator 3] Can't
And, oh, Kaepernick keeps it going
outside to the right,
and Kaepernick is gone!
Turned into a record-breaking day.
Man, take me through Super Bowl XLVII.
[Kaepernick] Stepping on that field,
-everybody's ready, locked in.
-[Vick] Yeah.
The toughest part about that game,
we were off.
I truly believe if we played that game
ten times, we'd win nine of them.
-And that was that one game we didn't.
-Right.
You remember, that was actually
the Super Bowl the lights went out.
Once that happened,
it was like a reset for us
and everything after that,
we started to play like ourselves.
But just being in that moment
[commentator 4] Kaepernick running
to the ten, to the five. He's in!
Making it to that point,
-it felt so normal for us.
-Damn.
I think I actually took for granted
how hard it is to get there.
Because the Super Bowl was my
my tenth game starting.
My first three years,
first year when I was sitting,
we went to the NFC championship,
my second year, we went to the Super Bowl
third year,
we went back to the NFC championship.
Me, I was like,
-"Oh, this is just what we do."
-Yeah.
We just gonna go out here and
win games and we gonna get over that hump.
And at that point that's when Harbaugh
got pushed out of San Francisco.
Changed the whole dynamic.
[Vick] So, things get a little crazy.
Colin Kaepernick is warming up
with his teammates on the field,
but a little bit later tonight, about
100 feet to my right on the sideline,
he is expected to kneel once again.
[reporter 1] Specifically,
what would you like to see change
in order for you to stand?
There's a lot of things
that need to change.
Uh, one-one specifically
is police brutality.
There's people being murdered
unjustly and not being held accountable.
Cops are getting paid leave
for killing people.
That's not right.
That's not right by anyone's standards.
2016, that year was full of ups and downs.
Colin Kaepernick again refused to stand
[reporter 2] Kaepernick,
as he's done all season,
today took a knee
during the national anthem.
People aren't being held accountable
and that needs to change.
-You've gotta respect the flag.
-Get that son of a bitch off the field
There is nothing more American
than a Jackie Robinson
or a Bill Russell or a Colin Kaepernick.
[Vick] And then to come that offseason,
they didn't bring you back.
It's just all abruptly.
Like, how-how did that make you feel?
[clicks tongue] Yeah, I mean, it's, uh
It's hard when you don't get to go out
on your terms.
[Vick] Yeah.
Like, if it was just a matter of like,
"Hey, you ain't got it,"
or I can't do it anymore.
When it's not that,
it-it's tougher to deal with.
[Vick] Yeah.
[reporter 3] The 29-year-old
quarterback is leaving the team
after more than five years
and plenty of controversy.
You miss the game of football?
Absolutely.
-The art of it. The competition.
-[Vick] Yeah.
There's something about
going toe-to-toe with people.
It's very few places in your life that you
get challenged the way you do in football.
Physically, mentally, emotionally,
the amount of trust and camaraderie
that you have to build
to be able to go out there.
How you have to lead.
-Even when things are thrown on you.
-[Vick] Right.
It's like, all right, throw it on my back,
it's all good. I'll carry it.
So you saying that,
I heard the competitiveness,
and I know you're a competitive person.
What scratches that competitive
itch now for you in your life?
I still do all of my training,
but I've had to look at competition
in different ways.
It can be training,
it could be running businesses.
It's now become, "How can I make
this a competition against myself?"
When you look back at your tenure
in the NFL, your legacy,
what you want that to be when you got
the next generation, looking up to you
-Mmm.
-and looking at your story?
One of the things that's
interesting to me is, like,
there's always this idea of,
like, doing things the right way.
And I think traditionally
that's framed through a conform.
And for me doing things
the right way is like, "Yo, be yourself,
be who you are,
but be the best at what you do."
For me, I want people
to remember me as someone
who put everything out there.
If I win or lose,
that's actually irrelevant
as long as I'm doing everything I can
to make sure I'm winning.
[Vick] Kap, that's unbelievable, man.
And I wanna say thank you.
I appreciate you, man.
And to-to know
that you had your own set of battles,
fought through it and still fighting
makes me proud to sit across from you.
-[chuckles] Absolutely, man.
-No doubt.
I-I appreciate you taking the time,
and I appreciate you paving the way.
-[Vick] No doubt.
-Like, you laid the foundation
for me to be able to step into the space
that I did and the way I was able to.
So, me and many others.
[Vick] Evolution.
It's where we are.
It's where we were.
In many ways,
this journey started four years ago
when I sat down with a quarterback
that reminded me so much of myself.
I'm sitting with the GOAT. MV, himself.
[commentator 1] That is crazy.
[commentator 2] Oh, my goodness.
-[grunts]
-[sputters]
[Vick] I need some popcorn.
-About to eat some popcorn.
-[chuckles]
[commentator 3] The spin,
the sprint and the score.
-[Vick] Now that was instinctive.
-[Jackson] Yep.
-One of the greatest players I ever seen.
-[Jackson] Appreciate that.
-The ultimate quarterback.
-[laughs]
[commentator 4] Forty, 35, 30, 25.
[Vick] Yes, this is legendary,
but it doesn't have
the flash that your running has.
Bro, you just split two
people over top with a walk off. [laughs]
But you had the spin move, bruh.
But that wasn't a walk off, though.
[laughs] That wasn't a walk off.
[Vick] We need more of this.
Maybe it's a young kid out there
aspiring to be like you.
-Like us.
-Like us.
[Vick] Lamar isn't just the present.
He's the future of the game.
And if this journey started with him,
there's someone else it has to end with.
[Vick] So, right now
we at Chiefs training camp.
I felt like Patrick
was a must-have because,
you know, he's changing the game
and continuing to pave the way.
And it's always good
to hear that perspective.
I spent the 2017 training camp
with the Chiefs.
He was working alongside Alex Smith,
who was so influential in his development.
Patrick was a great understudy,
and you could tell
he wanted to learn and get better.
And I watched him in three weeks,
get better each and every day.
-Pat, what's up, baby?
-What's up, my man?
-What's up, baby?
-How you been?
-Good, how 'bout yourself?
-Good.
-Thanks for stopping in.
-I appreciate you having me.
[Vick] Have a seat. For sure.
Patrick, look,
I really appreciate this, man.
You sitting down
-and just chop it up with you, bro.
-Yes, sir.
When did you first know
you was gonna be a quarterback?
[Mahomes] I actually played baseball
my whole entire life.
I didn't start playing football
until I was in seventh grade.
When I first started playing,
I started off
I wanted to play quarterback and
they had me playing linebacker at first.
I moved to safety and I played
I was the backup quarterback on varsity.
I didn't take over starting quarterback
until I was a junior in high school.
That's when I kind of knew I wanted
to play quarterback the whole time.
What advice did your parents give you,
in pertaining to your upbringing, sports
and-and just how
you have to live your day-to-day life?
Yeah, for me, I think it was, um,
my dad just kind of telling me
that no matter what the noise was outside,
the way you handled yourself on the field
was gonna be the true character
of who you are.
But it was being in that locker room,
the baseball locker room
where you're getting different races,
different nationalities.
-It's diverse. Really diverse.
-It's diverse,
and everybody is just a
It's a brotherhood.
-Right.
-That to me showed
that no matter what was going on
in the out-outside world,
those guys
in that locker room believe in you.
And that was big for me coming up.
I mean, there's not a lot
of African Americans playing baseball.
I was able to go out there and have
a good group of people around me.
It gave me that confidence to be who I am.
[Vick] Pat, you recently spent time
with Shack Harris and Doug Williams.
Talk about that experience
and what gems you got from them,
-and what you took away.
-I'm glad you're shedding a light on it.
How much Doug and Shack put me
in the position where I'm at today.
So just being able to go down there
to New Orleans and talk with them,
to hear the stories that they're telling.
I mean, they're some of the funniest guys
you would know.
And they're-they're trying to bring light
to the HBCUs down there
where they have the all-star game.
They get to put their talents on display.
Man, I just learned from them, man.
You just listen to them talk
about what they went through and you're
appreciative of where we're at today.
We're in a lot better place
'cause of guys like that,
and guys like you, who have kind of showed
that the Black quarterback could be one
of the best football players in the NFL.
I mean, even if you look back
to when you were playing,
everybody respected you
for being able to run around
-and make all these different plays.
-[Vick] Yeah.
[Mahomes] Now I go back
and I watch the same tape,
because we have them in that same offense
that you are with Coach Reid.
Man, you see how you're in the pocket
making these throws down the field.
The same throws that you see
all these quarterbacks making.
-[Vick] Right.
-You didn't get credit for that.
And I think with me and some of these
other guys in the league,
if we're dominating from within the pocket
and we're making plays on the run,
I feel like it's showing that guys like
you, guys that I'm sure you played with,
I mean, we could've been playing
quarterback the whole time.
There's been some weird criticism
towards some of the guys
like Lamar and Kyler Murray
and-and you chose to speak up about it.
The Black quarterback has had to battle
to be in this position that we are,
to have this many guys
in the league playing.
It always is weird when you see guys
like me, Lamar, Kyler get that on them
and other guys don't.
But we're gonna go out there
and prove ourselves every day
to show that we can be some of the
best quarterbacks in the league.
Yeah. And I Not even as much for myself.
Lucky enough for me, I haven't had
as much criticism as guys like that.
But it was more for-for guys
like Lamar and Kyler.
-Guys I watch on tape every single week.
-[Vick] Right.
[Mahomes] I'm taking stuff from their game
because of how they're playing,
and they're athletic and they can run.
So that's all people look at.
And you see that these guys are making
throws from within the pocket.
I mean, they're making the throws
that they need to be made
and if they weren't, defense would
be playing cover zero every single play
and they'd be stopping the run.
[commentator 1] Oh, my goodness.
What a play, what a throw.
So when they get criticized like that,
I feel like I-I'm in a place now
where I can speak up
-for not only myself but for them.
-Yeah.
I've watched the tape every single week
of every quarterback in this league.
And to see the success that they've had
it's not a mistake,
it's because they're doing things
the right way.
-[crowd cheers]
-[screams]
-[Mahomes] Believe this is our moment!
-[player] Believe it!
Ain't no better time to be great
than today!
[commentator 2]
Welcome again to the magic show.
Touchdown, Kansas City! Unreal!
[Mahomes shouts indistinctly]
After reaching certain heights
in your career so early,
what's the motivation
to continue to be great
for all the young kids
that's watching right now?
When you taste that Super Bowl,
when you win that thing,
everything else kinda seems
like a failure.
[commentator 3]
The Chiefs Kingdom will raise a banner
above the National Football League again!
[Mahomes] I was watching
that Derek Jeter documentary.
He won, like, three or four
in his first few years in the league
and he's like, if he lost,
no matter how the season actually went,
-it felt like a failure.
-Yeah.
And I-I That kind of hit home with me.
Once you go out there
and you're on top of that mountain
and you get that Super Bowl win,
you get to have that parade
and you get to celebrate that stuff,
you feel like you got to do that
every single time.
I wanna be someone that's remembered
for how I play on the field,
but someone who's remembered more
for the guy that I was off of it.
-[Vick] Right.
-That comes with a lot of things.
Going out there and winning games,
having character when you win games,
being in the community, showing these kids
that I'm just a normal guy.
I grew up going to parks playing football
with all my friends,
and now I'm kind of living out that dream
and it's hard work.
It's going in and doing whatever I can
to be the best player,
-the best student every single day.
-Yeah.
Whatever your dream is, follow it
'cause you can go out and achieve it.
Patrick, thank you, man,
for blessing us with your presence
and blessing me with your presence
and the world.
We're gonna get to see
what an amazing man you are, man.
-We appreciate it. Thank you.
-Appreciate you, my man.
When you study
the role of the Black quarterback,
you cannot separate that
from the advancements
of Black people in this country.
[Lambre] There have been
moments of progress,
there's been moments of pushback,
and in many ways, the story
of the African American quarterback
encompasses the trajectory
of African American opportunity
and also retrenchment
within all aspects of society.
When you think about
the fact that we have progressed
to the point where about half the league
has Black quarterbacks.
You stop and think about that
and go, "Wow."
Because there was a time
in my professional lifetime
within the past 30 years
where there may have been
one Black quarterback in the league.
[Taylor] It's important
to celebrate progress.
You can't know what you're experiencing
and why it's significant
if you don't know the history behind it.
You know, people often refer to 1947
as the year Jackie Robinson broke
the color line in baseball.
People wanna talk
about breaking the color line,
they don't wanna talk
about the color line.
People wanna talk about the fact
that Black quarterbacks are now given the
opportunity and they're succeeding.
They don't wanna be reminded of the fact
that Black quarterbacks were
not always afforded this opportunity,
because that's a conversation
about racism.
They simply want to celebrate the good
at the expense of ignoring the bad.
But it's all part of the same story.
You can't talk about the progress without
talking about the history that led to it.
And if you do, you're being disingenuous.
Throughout history,
Black people have been seen
as insufficiently talented
to do the job of White men.
We've been questioned, we've been excluded
and when we've been included,
we've been discriminated against.
And when we've been finally given a shot
to thrive,
we're held to a higher standard
and given a shorter leash.
This isn't just Black quarterbacks,
this is Black people in America.
So as we watch that journey
from Fritz Pollard to Patrick Mahomes,
we're not just watching an athletic story.
We're watching a story of social progress.
We're watching a story of struggle.
We're watching a story of success.
Just like the Black president
in the White House,
the Black quarterback on the field is for
many people a symbol of what's possible.
[Vick] This journey, when I set out on it,
I thought I knew most of the stories.
I learned so much more.
It was more than a trip through history.
It was a journey
through my own experience.
One I share with so many others.
It's an unforgettable story
of how far we've come
and where we still have to go.
I can't wait to see what's next.