SYMBOLIC BEHAVIORAL RACISM: ‘Race Science’ and Shedeur Sanders

Earl Smith, PhD

5/5/25

Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Mo,
Catch a nigger by the toe,
If he won’t work then let him go;Eggs, butter, cheese, bread.
Stick, stock, stone dead.1

 

Let’s say you were looking for a football player. A QuarterBack. 

As a capitalist team owner wouldn’t you select the best QB player available?

In this year’s NFL draft the first QB taken was Cam Ward from the Miami Hurricanes team.  During the 2024 season, Ward completed 39 passing touchdowns, 2 more than Sanders and 9 more than Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel. Sanders QBR being 75.5.

And, of the 32 first round picks, with 29 being Black, it would be hard to say that Sanders going in the 5th round as the 144th pick is racist.  {NOTE:  costing him an estimated $40 million}.

Why, then, would a player projected as a first-round pick—and definitely no later than the second round—with no known injuries, end up being picked in the 5th round?

Beats me:

• Is it race
• Is it stacking
• Is it the Bling
• Is it the Swagger
• Is it that Watch
• Is it the DAD?

Let’s consider each of these possible explanations.

The Race Question:

While both the college game and the pros have significant numbers of quarterbacks, – in 2024 colleges had approximately fifteen who were starters:

Black College Quarterbacks 2024

And, in the National Football League there were approximately 15:

Patrick Mahomes Kansas City Chiefs

Lamar Jackson Baltimore Ravens

Jalen Hurts Philadelphia Eagles

Dak Prescott   Dallas Cowboys

Jordan Love Green Bay Packers

C.J. Stroud Houston Texans

Kyler Murray Arizona Cardinals

Geno Smith Seattle Seahawks

Deshaun Watson Cleveland Browns

Anthony Richardson Indianapolis Colts

Caleb Williams Chicago Bears

Bryce Young Carolina Panthers

Jayden Daniels Washington Commanders

Jacoby Brissett New England Patriots

Russell Wilson Pittsburgh Steelers

 

Both lists make it clear, somewhat, that the old days of “stacking” are over.  Or are they?

Is it Stacking? No, but possibly yes.

Sanders may not have been drafted not because owners and general managers don’t want Black QB’s it could be that they want a “Jackie Robinson” type QB’s, which Sanders is not. Sanders doesn’t fit in the box, the container, that Black men are proscribed to entertain us, but don’t be too “uppity.” Be confident, but not too arrogant lest you upset the place in the hierarchy in which people like you are supposed to be contained. 

Once again, this is a difficult argument to make given that Black players are nearly equally represented representated at the position of quarterback–the once lily white position—as they are in the league overall (46.8% of NFL quarterbacks are Black; Black players make up 53% of all players in the NFL).

In the case of Sanders, we must ask the question if his overall stats are as good or better than Dillon Gabriel’s or in some case better than Cam Ward and definitely a better looking QB than the current crop at the Brown’s, then why the late pick?

With race and stacking seeming eliminated as explanations we are left with the “intangibles” ….the Bling, the Swagger, that Audemars Piguet Royal Oak 15500 watch, customized with diamonds and valued at approximately $70,000, Watch, the DAD?

We are really left with what the sociologist Eduardo Bonilla Silva calls “symbolic racism.”  According to Silva (2003) symbolic racism is part of a broader framework of new forms of racism, a set of subtle, indirect, and ostensibly non-racial practices that still reproduce racial inequalities and injustices in Sports World in the contemporary, post–civil rights era.

So perhaps the relevant comparisons aren’t the stats, as all quarterbacks drafted and playing in the NFL are an elite group. Perhaps the relevant comparison, as others have suggested, must be made through the lens of symbolic racism: does Sanders act “too Black?” Does he challenge the racial hierarchy by refusing to cow-tow to the white elite who control the draft and the purse strings? Flashing a watch that costs more than most Americans will make in a lifetime, rather than saying “Yes, Sir? How high do you want me to jump, massa?” The message from the NFL owners seems to be clear: We’ll be happy to draft and pay Black players, as long as they stay in the containers (e.g., the boxes) we built for them.

The mistakes made by Sanders and family were many. No, not on the field of play but in life. Having his dad as his only coach ever is one mistake but moreso, the lack of respect for the game.  New York Times reporter  put it this way, noting Sanders et. al., lack of respect for the process:

….the humility to acknowledge that you’re never as good as you think and realize that, despite your best efforts, you’re at the mercy of powerful executives.

Sanders and family members relied, wrongfully, on their dad who relied on his own beliefs and understanding of the NFL – but these were out-of-sync with current thinking.  At the end of the day his son, Shedeur, in his planning to make the transition to “The League” lost out on this once in a lifetime opportunity.

In current times, with the array of mentors, childhood friends, multiple coaches, trainers, agents and family members in the sight range and in earshot so many athletes are being bombarded with what the talking head Chris Hayes labels The Sirens’ Call: How Attention Became the World’s Most Endangered Resource –  thus the distraction, the loss of focus, the addictive focus on the wrong things for too long threw Shedeur Sanders into a spiral, an out of focus spin away from what was important.

 

 

References

1. R. Kipling, R. T. Jones, G. Orwell, eds The Works of Rudyard Kipling (Wordsworth Editions, 1994), p. 771.
2. Hurby, Patrick (September 20, 2019). “We’ve come so far’: how black quarterbacks defied a racist past to become the NFL’s future”. The Guardian. Retrieved May 16, 2023.  Earl Smith and Wib Leonard. 1997. Twenty-five years of stacking research in major league baseball: An attempt at explaining this re-occurring phenomenon. Sociological Focus 30 (4), 321-331.
3. Mike Jones, 2025, “Shedeur Sanders, Deion taught a hard lesson in humility in QB’s NFL Draft slide.” New York Times,  https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6315567/2025/04/28/shedeur-sanders-deion-nfl-draft-slide/?searchResultPosition=1 
4. Chris Hayes, 2025, The Sirens’ Call: How Attention Became the World’s Most Endangered Resource. Random House.