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A lot of great players voiced their support. But
the one who stood out most, the one who made
me say “Wow,” was Patrick Mahomes.
He is the best player in the NFL, the reigning
Super Bowl MVP, the owner of the biggest con-
tract in sports history. He is also a young Black
man who understands the impact he can have
on society. When players started putting that
video together, he didn’t worry about his product
endorsements. He didn’t sit back and say, “No,
I’m not gonna do that—that’s gonna tarnish my
reputation.” It wasn’t about his reputation. It’s
about social justice to him. It’s about what’s right.
It’s about the way things should be.
He said, “This is who I am. And I’m not so wor-
ried about what you say.” When I saw him on that
video, I knew it wasn’t going to just disappear from
the news cycle in a few hours. It was permanent.
That video has caused a real change in the NFL.
Commissioner Roger Goodell has publicly ac-
knowledged that trying to squash player protests
in recent years was wrong, and the league should
have done a better job of listening to its Black
players. As the best player in the NFL, Mahomes
has the loudest voice. He forced people to listen.
I met Patrick once, brief ly, at the 2017 NFL
combine. I could tell by his reaction that he not
I was at home when I
saw the video on TV:
NFL stars, one after
another, calling out
the names of victims
of police brutality
and proclaiming that
“Black Lives Matter.”
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BY DOUG
WILLIAMS
Super Bowl XXII
MVP, cofounder
of the Black
College Football
Hall of Fame,
Wa shing ton
Football Team
senior vice
president of player
development