White Shogun said:
What reasoning are you using for your breakdown by position, Riggins? How do you justify 80% white at TE, for example, and not 40%? Why 40% black at RB and not 10%?
OK Shogun, here is my long explanation to you, if you care to read this. This basically contains all my theories of favoritism toward blacks for the few skills blacks have a slight edge at the expense of the handful of areas whites have a slight advantage. I looked at the U.S census that shows the United States is 66% white and 13% black currently and than looked at relative skills between the two races which overall are pretty similar. Basically their shouldn't be huge deviations for most positions from the ratio in the U.S of black to white.
I kept this just between white and black (omitting other races) and although we are all very similar there are three areas where blacks have a small advantage. At the highest level any small advantage can be vital.
Looking at blacks and whites aptitude for football talent. IMO whites are slightly stronger, we are equally quick and have just as effective agility to blacks, we have slightly better on field awareness to make the play that the opponent gives you. However blacks have a small advantage in speed and backpedaling and cutting at full speed.
I have looked at the NFL combine lists for CBs and Aqib Talib was the slowest 1st round CB this year running a 4.48 on a slower combine track. Last year the Giant's Aaron Ross was the slowest in the 1st round running a 4.44 if I am not mistaken. This year Brandon Flowers was considered an elite CB, but after running a 4.55 at the NFL combine he dropped to the mid 2nd round. Some were saying that his 4.55 even on a slower Combine track would never allow him to guard a true # 1 speed demon WR.
At positions where strength and field analysis is very important whites would be overrepresented. For instance I think TE is a great position for whites, you need field smarts, quickness, strength for blocking, hands, route running ability, toughness etc. You have to be a great all round athlete.
As far as RBs go, whites are equal as far as their burst from a starting point (if not better) to blacks. We have equal field sense and agility. Whites may be slightly better at breaking tackles and pass blocking. Whites tend to cut in more of a slashing style, where blacks tend to have a quicker darting cut, but both can be equally effective. And as I already said blacks have a slight edge in speed and cutting at full speed.
Whites may be better for finding the seam through the line of scrimmage with a one or two cut from the hand off and then a quick burst through the line. In the open field moving full speed I would give a small advantage to blacks to break really long runs. But as we know 40+ yard runs are very rare for blacks as well. Eddie George had two in his entire 10.000 yard career. Speed demon Reggie Bush's career long run so far is 23 yards.
10, 20 and 30 yard burst should be more important to RBs than a 40 yard clip.
I would dare say that whites could be as much as 70% of NFL RBs, but in analyzing lots of h.s prospects, I think there is a "slightly higher rate" of elite talent in a given equally large sample of black population to whites for RBs. This does not mean that whites could never become NFL pro-bowl RBs. Jesse Lumsden, Sam McGuffie, maybe even Tre Smith, Danny Woodhead (or Hester as a Bettis type) have that type of potential. However I think blacks would certainly make up more than their 13% membership in the U.S populous in an NFL RB census. And of course I forgot to mention the very common black obsession to never give up on their pro football/ basketball dream.
I know their is a lot of untapped white rural H.S RB talent that Rivals would not even sniff at, so 70 or even 75% or so white at RB is certainly a possibility, that is why my 60% white at RB is my "estimate." And if the league were fair FBs would carry the rock too and that would increase power carries for whites.
Last I will mention CB. I would say your average "starting" black NFL CB runs about a 4.48 NFL combine time (what Talib runs). So if your average white was running a 4.55, you wouldn't think it is a big deal, but those 3 feet or so over 40 yards in speed separation can be a big deal when you combine this with the fact that blacks also backpedal "slightly" better IMO. Whites may even have a slight advantage in burst, but as I said I also give blacks a very small advantage at cutting at full speed. Speed is absolutely essential to the CB position because you often have to cover speed demons one on one and if you bite a fake you need good recovery speed. This is why CB is a slightly faster position in the NFL than WR or RB. This is why I would dare say that NFL CB would be no more than 50% white even without the caste system. It is the only position in football that you might be able to legitimize as being more than half black without the caste system IMO.
BTW some stereotypes have a grain of truth to them, but Rivals and ESPN are absolutely wacko in their evaluations. All they care about are 40 times. They don't care about the white advantage in tackle breaking, cutting and then bursting from the starting point to the line of scrimmage. They don't care about the field awareness of the white RB or our slight edge in 3-cone and short shuttle times overall, which shows our burst ability and quad strength to stop momentum and our footwork and cutting ability. Tom Luginbill has got to be the biggest anti-white athlete hate monger of all time.
Edited by: ToughJ.Riggins