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In the first week of NFL games, — the most-ever to begin a season.

Some of you might say — why is this a topic?

That could be because you don’t think the topic, in 2024, is an issue anymore.

Or it could be because you don’t want to discuss race in sports.

But acknowledging progress is important. There are still people out there who think negatively about Blacks playing quarterback. And so, every win by Lamar Jackson or Jalen Hurts or C.J. Stroud or Jayden Daniels is a statement or, if anything, a step toward full acceptance and appreciation.

And in recent weeks, a new book and documentary have detailed the journey. The book, by professor Louis Moore, is called “The Great Black Hope: Doug Williams, Vince Evans, and the Making of the Black Quarterback.” And the documentary, streaming on Amazon Prime, is “Evolution of The Black Quarterback.”

In this documentary, the actor and rapper Common shared this sentiment: “When I hear the term ‘Black quarterback,’ I think of revolution. I think of progress. I think of change. Black power, in a way — a representation of Black leadership. And I say ‘progress’ because the NFL, much like America, didn’t see Black men as being leaders that it takes to be a quarterback. That’s been the change we’ve been able to see.”

In his book, Moore wanted to highlight Evans and Williams — the first Black quarterback to win Super Bowl MVP — because these two men were both trailblazers and mind-changers.

“NFL quarterback is the most important position of all sports, and that’s partly why Black quarterbacks were kept out,” said Moore — the author of books about sports and the civil rights movement — by phone on Monday. “And so, for this position, for a lot of Black Americans, it’s more than just like two guys playing — it’s really their lives, right? Because they feel left out of society. They have all these qualifications, yet ‘I can’t get hired’ or ‘I can’t move up the ranks in this business job.’ … So it’s really about leadership and opportunity.”

Embarrassingly, the NFL has also had issues regarding another type of Black leader — head coaches. In 2022, former Dolphins coach Brian Flores actually filed a lawsuit against the NFL — he alleged discrimination and a lack of effort to hire minority coaches. This past offseason, though, four minorities head coaches were hired. That put the league at nine. And while that’s the most in history, it’s still not even close to half.

As for quarterbacks, an investigation last fall from showed that more could have be done, too. “From 2010 to 2022,” the report stated, “teams were chronically underrating Black quarterbacks in the draft.”

Bringing light to the issues is important. Changing perceptions and growing acceptance is imperative.

A historic occasion occurred in the Super Bowl for the 2022 season — two Black quarterbacks started the game (Philadelphia’s Hurts and Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes). Very cool moment. But also eye-opening is that it took 57 Super Bowls for it to happen. That month, I interviewed some high school Black quarterbacks — it was powerful to hear how meaningful seeing Black quarterbacks was for them. Representation is inspiration.

“And then look at the rise of Lamar and his continued success, right?” Moore said of Baltimore’s Jackson, who leads the NFL in passer rating this year (115.4) and is second in touchdowns thrown (17), along with 501 rushing yards for the 5-3 Ravens. “It’s not just that Lamar did it one year. He has two MVPs. And looks like he’s on his way to a third MVP.”

Moore pointed out that the evolution of college football offenses have helped Black quarterbacks. In the past, there were run-heavy offenses such as the wishbone or triple-option.

“So that Black quarterback was there on Saturday, but not there on Sunday,” Moore said. “Because those offenses weren’t there on Sunday.”

And through his research, Moore also cautioned the fear of Black quarterbacks getting benched too early in their careers. Obviously, each situation is its own situation. But he pointed out Bryce Young and Justin Fields this season. An argument could be made, at least in rebuilding Carolina, that Young could learn on the job.

“The stuff that comes up is: ‘Here’s your opportunity, but you’ve got to be perfect,’” Moore said. “One of the quotes I use in the book’s introduction comes from a sports columnist, Jim Murray, who used to be at the LA Times. He said in the ’70s, ‘The Black quarterback is like a member of a bomb squad. You only get one mistake.’”

But the good news — the encouraging and nourishing news — is that many Black quarterbacks are thriving today in a league in which, a generation prior, they didn’t get as many opportunities.