Sometimes it isn't Racism
Sometimes you are just an asshole.
Exact racial demographics for the 2025 NFL Draft are not officially reported, as the NFL does not publish this data for draft picks.
But I can count – and I did and here are the numbers for the first round:
Twenty-four of the thirty-two picks (75%) in the first round of the NFL Draft are black, including the top three. Seven of the first ten (where the big contracts with guaranteed money usually are) are black.
Based on historical trends, estimates suggest that approximately 70-80% of first-round picks (22-25 of 32 players) over the past twenty drafts were Black, and 20-30% (6-10 players) were White. These figures align with the NFL's overall player demographics, where over 53% of players were Black or African American in 2023, and Black athletes tend to dominate skill positions.
For the entire draft (257 picks across seven rounds), similar proportions likely apply, with roughly 60-70% Black players (approximately 154-180) and 25-35% White players (64-90), based on historical patterns. Other racial groups, such as Hispanic or Latino (0.5% of NFL players in 2023) and Asian or Pacific Islander, are typically underrepresented. Without official data, these are informed estimates, and precise breakdowns remain unavailable.
Even given this, one black player, Shedeur Sanders, admittedly a great athlete, falls completely out of the first round – all the way to the fifth.
Sanders was picked at #144.
And according to some, this is a perfect example of just how racist the NFL is. According to some guy I never heard of writing at an online magazine that targets a black audience, Jon Conyers (not a congressman) says that Shedeur followed all of white society’s rules but his problem is that he is a confident black man and white society doesn’t like confident black men – like at all.
As a matter of fact, it is Colin Kaepernick 2.0:
“Today, Shedeur isn’t just battling defenders on the field—he’s battling a culture desperate to humble confident Black men the moment they begin to shine. His confidence is framed as arrogance. His success is treated as a threat. His pride is painted as a character flaw.
This isn’t just about sports.
It’s about the emotional and mental toll that comes from living in a world determined to humble Black men for daring to love themselves out loud. It’s a moving target designed to break spirits.
And when that message gets internalized long enough, it starts to chip away at mental health. It breeds anxiety, depression, and rage. It teaches young Black men and boys that no matter how good they are, they will never be good enough.
We can’t keep telling Black men to simply work harder and behave better. We have to build a world where they are allowed to be fully human -loud and quiet, joyful, and complicated, confident, and still learning. Proud of who they are without needing to apologize for it.”
I guess he must have missed all the proud, confident, black men in the first round of the draft, black men who all are waking up this morning as millionaires, most with guaranteed contracts.
Maybe Shedeur took his dad’s famous “confidence” too far. Reports are that he came to the personal interviews unprepared, displayed arrogance rather than confidence, acted entitled and lacked the locker room leadership qualities the teams interested in him wanted. Maybe it is Kaepernick 2.0 – because these are the exact same issues – plus a dash of radicalism, which made Kaepernick a pariah, one out of about 1700 players who has the physical talent, but no team will touch him.
Maybe it is that teams know drafting Shedeur is a twofer – you get him AND his father, who ruffled quite a few feathers with is bravado and arrogance. Neon Deion left a lot of wreckage in his wake. Sanders was a once in a lifetime player – and he knew it. His “brand” was flash and dash, weighted toward the flash.
Maybe teams just didn’t want Deion II.
Maybe it isn’t about race at all.
Sometimes it is just because you come off as an ass – locker room poison. It happens. Johnny Manziel, aka Johnny Football, was a great college player. He was white – but he was also an undisciplined jerk. I guess he is selling funeral insurance policies now. I have no idea. He took a great future and turned it into a footnote.
I think Shedeur’s precipitous drop will do him good in the long term. He is a gifted athlete who needed an attitude adjustment.
Deion needed to do to Shedeur what Keyshawn (Johnson) did to his kid. Keyshawn’s son was recruited by Nebraska. He showed up acting like he was all that. Got in trouble. I can’t remember if it was Reilly or Frost who benched him. Keyshawn found out about everything, came to Nebraska, pulled him off the team and out of school because of his behavior and attitude. I wasn’t a big fan of Keyshawn but when I heard about this he earned my respect.
(Putting aside the concept/theory of genetically inherited racism) When it comes to such ugly sentiment it is typically acquired during childhood, sometimes even passed down generationally like a communicable virus/sickness.
Especially if it’s deliberate, rearing one’s very impressionable young children in such an environment of baseless contempt and overt bigotry amounts to a formidable form of child abuse.
If racists won’t do it for plain moral reasons, they then should do their own children a big favor by NOT passing down onto them such destructive anti-social/-societal sentiments and perceptions (including stereotypes and ‘humor’), since such rearing can readily make life much harder for those children.
It fails to prepare them for the practical reality of an increasingly diverse and populous society and workplace. It also makes it so much less likely those children will be emotionally content or preferably harmonious with their multicultural and multi-ethnic/-racial surroundings.
Children reared into their adolescence and, by extension, young adulthood this way can find themselves seemingly always feeling angry yet not really knowing exactly at what. They also may feel self-compelled to move to another part of the land, where their own ethnicity/race predominates, preferably overwhelmingly so.
This serious social/societal problem can/should be proactively prevented by allowing young children to become accustomed to other peoples/cultures/faiths in a harmoniously positive manner.