This is a word, a podcast from Slate. I'm your host, Jason Johnson. It's football season

and in America's most popular sport, the most important player is arguably the quarterback.

After decades of essentially being shut out of the role, more African American quarterbacks

are shining on the field.

A black quarterback had not even been drafted in the first round until 1978. If you're a

team owner, if you're a general manager, if you're a head coach, you no longer can ignore

someone at that position because of the color of your skin.

The rise of the black quarterback coming up on a word with me, Jason Johnson. Stay with

us.

Welcome to a word, a podcast about race and politics and everything else. I'm your host,

Jason Johnson. For football fans, it's the most wonderful time of the year. We're wrapping

up the NFL's preseason and we're just about a week away from the teams taking the field

for real.

When they do, many of them will be led by black quarterbacks. Just a few decades ago,

African Americans rarely have the opportunity to play in that position. While great strides

have been made on the field, less than a third of quarterbacks are black in a sport where

70% of the players are African Americans. Joining us to talk about it is Jason Reed. He's

the author of the new book, Rise of the Black Quarterback, what it means for America. He's

also the senior NFL writer for ESPN. Jason Reed, welcome to a word.

Hey, thank you for having me.

So back in 2019, you declared that season the year of the black quarterback and said that

it was the best time ever for black quarterbacks. What inspired you to write about that and

...