I often find myself wondering how many black punters are in the NFL. After all, it’s not something that the media talks about much. It’s a question I find myself wanting to figure out, especially since I’m a die-hard football fan.
When I think of the NFL, I think of the athletes that I see playing week in and week out. Whether they’re running backs, quarterbacks, kickers, or punters, black players make up a considerably larger percentage than the punters.
So, I started to comb through the statistics to find out just how many black punters there are in the NFL. Sure enough, it turns out that not many.
Surprisingly, there have only been four black punters in the NFL since the 2000 season. They are Johnson Bademosi, Pat McAfee, Marquette King, and Donnie Jones. And of those four, only Marquette King has stuck around for the entirety of his NFL career.
I was, admittedly, a little disappointed to find out this statistic. After all, diversity in the NFL is desperately needed and having more black punters would help in that regard.
I asked some of my friends how they felt about this issue. Many of them said that it’s a shame that there are not more black punters. They felt that the NFL should do more to encourage and promote black punters.
Digging around online, I found some interviews with marquette king on the issue. Just last year, he said “We need more black punters in the NFL, period. There is a lot of untapped athleticism in this country and we need to open those doors to give black punters an opportunity to showcase their talents.”
This stuck with me for a while. It made me realize that the NFL has a responsibility to not just represent the game of football, but to represent the players that make up its population. Representing black punters is part of that responsibility.
The thought of having more black punters in the NFL is exciting. We’re still a way away from that happening, but it certainly gives me hope that one day, we’ll have a more diverse population of punters in the league.