Postcards from the Empire

An alternative preview of the upcoming NFL Draft

Long-time football fans and even casual ones likely remember or have heard names like Ryan Leaf, Heath Shuler, Tony Mandarich, Mike Mamula and others mentioned on many occasions. They were made infamous by an ESPN show on the NFL’s biggest draft busts.

That show was made in the 1990s, some 30 years ago, and hasn’t been updated since. Ever wonder why? It’s because while most of the “biggest busts” listed 30 years ago were White (and Mamula and Mandarich actually had decent careers), the vast majority of busts in the 21^st century have been Black. Yet very few of them have been stigmatized and made infamous the way the same few Whites ones from a generation ago were and still are.

The NFL has actually been promoting DEI, affirmative action and quotas to an extreme extent for decades. What some call the racial “Caste System” when it comes to sports in the U.S. traces its roots to the tumultuous late 1960s and has only intensified and slowly become more extreme since.

The 2024 NFL Draft took place in Detroit; this week’s three-day spectacle will be hosted by Green Bay.

The NFL was racially integrated in the 1950s and in the 1960s and into the ‘70s, and during that time the league was about as close to colorblind as one can be when it comes to sports. Whites still starred at running back, wide receiver, and at all the positions on defense. Other than at quarterback, similarly Blacks also played and starred at all positions.

But through the time-honored use of gradualism, the regime slowly and methodically “blackened” the NFL (and NBA). By the mid-1980s, Whites were rapidly becoming extinct at running back, receiver, and defense in general. By 1990, only two White players were taken in the first round at that year’s draft, and that pretty much became the undeviating pattern ever since. The NFL is mostly Black; other than outliers, Whites are limited to playing quarterback, tight end, and center and guard on the offensive line. NFL teams average just one White starter out of eleven on defense, and decades have gone by without a single White cornerback starting. Same at running back. Apparently there was an “extinction event” one day circa 1985 that caused Whites, who have always loved and played football at the highest levels, to be unable to play most of the positions that they had previously played and starred at.

Blacks make very good athletes, and very good football players. But nowhere near to the extent that the NFL and its supporting fake news media claim. Given how aware many Americans have become when it comes to sniffing out the lies and narratives supporting DEI in other areas, it shouldn’t be that difficult to comprehend that the same process takes place in football, basketball and sprinting, the three sports at which Blacks are best. Sports is not “the last meritocracy,” but rather the first and longest-standing bastion of systemic discrimination against Whites.

There are few events more predictable than the annual NFL Draft, set to take place this Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Over the first 25 years of this century, only four times has the number of White players taken been over a paltry 25 percent, in ’03, ’04, ’05, and ‘16.

This is the percentage of Whites drafted each year beginning with 2009:

2009 – 21.5%

2010 – 22.7%

2011 – 20.0%

2012 – 23.0%

2013 – 23.6%

2014 – 21.9%

2015 – 15.2%

2016 – 25.3%

2017 – 18.2%

2018 – 23.4%

2019 – 22.0%

2020 – 16.5%

2021 – 18.1%

2022 – 21.8%

2023 – 18.9%

2024 – 18.7%

Such drearily similar results year after year defy the laws of probability. The same small number of Whites drafted every year reflects an agenda – call it quotas, call it affirmative action, call it DEI, call it the Caste System – but it’s real and has been institutionalized at a hard-core level for 40 years.

Well, Blacks are just that much better than Whites, many sports fans would say and truly believe. But Whites are grossly discriminated against every step of the way in football, victims of racial slotting that begins at the pee wee level through high school. The so-called “recruiting services” every year rank Black high school stars higher than White ones, even though mostly White high school teams beat mostly Black ones on a regular basis. Black stars and potential stars are showered with scholarship offers while White stars rarely are except when they play quarterback or tight end or the offensive line. Most – including many who persevere and overcome all the obstacles placed in their path and become stars in the NFL, began their college careers as walk-ons, in other words at the very bottom of the totem pole.

So if every year football fans are supposed to continue to be dazzled at the latest crop of Black super-athletes about to enter the league, the media has to be careful to not mention how many of them will go on to be busts, nor is the discrimination against Whites in the giving out of scholarships and not allowing them to play many positions in college and the pros ever mentioned.

But don’t take my word for it. Here is a list of Black busts from two recent NFL Drafts, 2020 and 2021. All these busts were taken just in the first and second rounds:

2020:

- DE Chase Young - the second overall pick of the draft has been a huge bust by any measurement. Just 22 sacks and 131 combined tackles through five seasons, anything but a "generational talent." The ritually and still denounced Mike Mamula had a better career than Chase Young with 31.5 sacks and 209 combined tackles in five seasons. There's a good reason why radical left anti-White ESPN hasn't updated its "leading busts" show since the 1990s.

- DT Derrick Brown - 8 career sacks.

- LB Isaiah Simmons - like Young he was supposed to be a generational talent but has only been able to be a part-time player over five seasons with the Cardinals and Giants.

- CB C. J. Henderson- bust.

- WR Henry Ruggs - bust as a receiver, now in prison after being convicted of causing the death of a woman while driving over 100 mph while drunk.

- DT Javon Kinlaw. 9.5 career sacks, bust.

- WR Jerry Jeudy - not an outright bust but it took him five seasons to finally crack the thousand yard receiving mark.

- CB Damon Arnette - total bust, out of the league since the '21 season.

- LB K'Lavon Chaisson - 105 combined tackles in 5 seasons, bust.

- WR Jalen Reagor - total bust, 86 career receptions in 5 seasons.

- LB Kenneth Murray - major disappointment, not a big bust but far from living up to the hype and expectations.

- CB Noah Igbinoghene - has only started 5 games in 5 years, 84 career tackles, 1 interception.

- CB Jeff Gladney - out of the NFL after one season.

- RB Clyde Edwards-Helaire - the first running back drafted in '20, a big bust with just 1,891 career rushing yards.

- DE Yetur Gross-Matos - has only started 22 games in five seasons, bust.

- DT Ross Blacklock - total bust, started 3 games, now out of the league.

- WR Laviska Shenault - just 163 catches for 1,587 yards, a not so sparkling average of 9.7 yards per reception, big bust.

- WR K. J. Hamler - 42 career catches, now out of the league, huge bust.

- DE Marlon Davidson - started 4 games in 2 seasons, now out of the league.

- WR Chase Claypool - prima donna deluxe who had a nice rookie season but went markedly downhill every season after, now without a team, bust.

- RB Cam Akers - 2,025 career rushing yards in 5 seasons.

- DE A. J. Epenesa - just 17 starts in 5 seasons, 21.5 sacks and 64 solo tackles, bust.

- DE Raekwon Davis - 2 sacks and 144 combined tackles in 5 years.

- WR Denzel Mims - huge bust with 42 career catches and currently without a team but will undoubtedly still get more chances due to his mouth watering upside.

- OLB Josh Uche - just 86 combined tackles and 20.5 sacks in 5 seasons in the league.

- RB - A. J. Dillon - heralded as a big back with speed but quickly turned into a big back who is as slow as a turtle, 2,428 rushing yards in 5 seasons.

2021:

- QB Trey Lance - The 49ers were smart enough to recognize their mistake early and traded Lance to Dallas, where he's been holding a clipboard the past two years. Surely Lance will be one of many Black busts at QB featured if/when ESPN produces a new all-time bust show, but they just can't let go of Ryan Leaf and Heath Shuler after all these years.

- TE Kyle Pitts - taken fourth overall, he was supposed to instantly be the greatest tight end in league history. Nope. He did have a very nice rookie year, being one of a very few TEs to go over 1,000 yards as a rookie, but his three seasons since then have resulted in 356, 667, and 602 yards, run of the mill results at best. Given his draft position and the hype he received, Pitts is a bust.

- CB Jaycee Horn - just 153 combined tackles in four seasons along with 5 picks. Moderate bust.

- QB Justin Fields - he can run but he can't pass. DWFs were thrilled when Fields was drafted to replace Mitch Trubisky but he turned out to be worse. His highwater marks for passing are just 2,562 yards and 17 passing TDs. Now with Pittsburgh his limitless untapped "upside" makes it likely he'll be starting for the Jets in 2025.

- LB Zaven Collins - has had more than 33 solo tackles just once in four years while making almost no big plays, big bust.

- OT Alex Leatherwood - even many in the media couldn't believe it when the Raiders took Leatherwood with the 17th pick. Cut four games into his second season and out of the league since. Huge bust.

- LB Jamin Davis - drafted by Washington, who cut him in '24, picked up by three teams since, had a grand total of 18 tackles last season, bust.

- WR Kadarius Toney - great at having crucial drops, committing stupid penalties and throwing sideline tantrums, Toney is already on his third team and you can bet he isn't out of chances yet even though his rookie season total of just 420 receiving yards is the only time he's topped 171 yards. He had one target and no catches for 2024, mega-bust.

- CB Caleb Farley - has started three games in four seasons, big bust.

- CB Greg Newsome - demoted to a backup role in '24, has never exceeded 49 combined tackles in a season and has 3 career interceptions, bust

- WR Rashod Bateman - in four years his best marks in a season have been 46 receptions and 756 yards, bust but did come on the second half of '24.

- DE Payton Turner - has yet to start a game and has career totals of 30 combined tackles and 5 sacks, big bust.

- DE Jayson Oweh - in four seasons has totaled 138 combined tackles and 23 sacks, has started just 23 games, bust.

- DE Joe Tryon - similar to Oweh above, has just 138 combined tackles in his four year career to go with 15 sacks, bust.

- DT Levi Onwuzurike - just 10 career starts, 68 combined tackles for his career and 3.5 sacks, bust.

- CB Kelvin Joseph - now on his third team, has 3 career starts, 40 combined tackles and 0 interceptions, big bust.

- WR Rondale Moore - 435 yards is his most for a season, spent '24 on IR, bust.

- DE Azeez Ojulari - has been mostly a backup, paltry career total of 107 combined tackles and 22 sacks, bust.

- WR D'Wayne Eskridge - all of 20 catches total in four seasons, bust.

- WR Tutu Atwell - 99 career catches in four seasons, bust.

- WR Terrace Marshall - currently on his third team, has 67 receptions total for four seasons, big bust.

- QB Kellon Mond - cycled through four teams, now out of the league, finished with 3 pass attempts for 5 yards, bust.

- DE Carlos Basham - "Boogie" has yet to start a game, has 26 solo tackles in four seasons, major bust.

[Source: https://castefootball.us/threads/nfl-draft-demographics-by-year-2000-2024.39964/]

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell gives a bear hug to all the players drafted in the first round each year.

The above source, Caste Football.us, is a one-of-a-kind resource on the topic of the racial dynamics of sports. Another thread, documenting the endless highly drafted Black players who turn out not to live up to the hype, has over 825 posts as I write this: https://castefootball.us/threads/recent-busts.15661/

[Full disclosure: Caste Football is my site, one which I started in 2004 and which now has over half a million posts.]

Maybe it’s a little clearer now why ESPN still shows re-runs of its “Busts” show from the 1990s denigrating mainly White players rather than updating it. So remember, if you watch this week’s annual spectacle called the NFL Draft, that most of the names you hear called and slobbered over in the first two rounds will make little or no impact, and also remember that the process will be repeated again next year, and the year after and the year after, until enough fair-minded Americans demand that sports take place on as level a playing field as possible when it comes to giving aspiring athletes of all backgrounds a fair opportunity. DEI in sports must end!