Something sure seems suspicious concerning concussions and how they are effecting White players. I believe it may be less a case of explicit prejudice against White players and more of an implicit bias. First consider the diagnosis of a concussion or post-concussion syndrome. There is not a test such as MRI or CT scan that is used to determine if a player has a problem. If there was even the slightest positive measure from one of those types of tests then that player would not see the inside of a locker room let alone the playing field.
What is used instead is a detailed series of questions to quiz the player on whether they are having an issue of memory, head pain, or behavior change, that would indicate some problem. Also tests of memory, and balance are performed, and compared with "normal" tests.
Here is where I see the problem that may result in test results for White players vs. black players. One may consider that black players may be more likely to lie to doctors. I don't know if this is true, nor do I especially think that it may be the case, all players are highly competitive and motivated to lie to keep playing. So while there may be some that would make a case that the typical NFL White player, who we often criticize for being too "good", (ie boyscouts, etc.) may be overly honest in this regard, it's not an open and shut case.
We do know however that White players generally outscore black players in the Wonderlic scores by large margins and so can assume that the average White player, like the average White person, is going to score higher on aptitude tests. So it is much more likely, in my opinion, that post concussion tests that measure for example, memory-which is very correlated to IQ-- would have the possibility of showing a greater drop off for someone that has previously scored high on tests, then for someone that has already basically scored at the very low level on tests.
In other words for many black players how much worse could their test results be when we know for a fact that their starting point in such tests is already at a low, sometimes extremely low, level?
There is also the idea that I have seen discussed in many places that there are significant differences between the brains of Whites and blacks and that an "expert" can merely look at brain tissue and see the difference. I also know that this is disputed, and that there is no way to know if it is true because it is absolutely the most horrible hate crime imaginable for someone to even mention the possibility that there is any difference what so ever. So if the "experts" won't say, how would anyone else know for sure?
However medical professionals have to deal in the real world and since they are protected by patient-doctor non-disclosure policies it may be very likely that they are seeing things on brain scans and MRI's that they would never, even under extreme pressure, mention to the media. And if there are significant differences that show up between White and black players we would never know except that one group may be treated differently in matters of concussion policy by the league.
What we do know though, is that it seems that receivers, especially, are being effected by this policy. This seems a bit counter intuitive when you consider that receivers probably experience less contact then any other position. Look at lineman that are lined up head to head and the crash of helmets that occurs on every single play. And yet it's the guys that go out an 90% of the time run down the field with little to no contact that are unable to play?
An argument could be made that because receivers are running and are exposed that they are the prime target for concussions but I think that would make it more likely that the all black secondary would be at even higher risk as they are subject to both the passing and running game contact.
For sure though singling out receivers has the possibility to effect the modest gains that White players have made at that position in recent years. There are virtually NO White running backs but there are SOME White receivers. Furthermore if the receiver position is seen as the most risky, then the "Welker" position, i.e. sure handed White guy playing in the slot and going over the middle, is at the highest risk of all.
Thus if the issue of concussions plays out as described above then the effect is sure to be a reversal of the momentum of White players at the only ball handling position that could even be mildly described as somewhat, a tiny bit, White-friendly. I think it's obvious that any fan aware of the caste system should look upon this issue very suspiciously. Especially as it appears to be something that could possibly disproportionally effect White players.
