Same Faces, New Places As Football Season Begins

From the Miami Times:

By Mark Stallworth

Miami Times Contributor

Sep 9, 2020

As we prepare for the start of the NFL season there has been plenty of activity this offseason. The Kansas City Chiefs received their Super Bowl rings. Quarterback Lamar Jackson has been named the cover athlete of Madden 21. The Washington Redskins franchise had to rename itself the Washington Football Team due to Native American groups disputing that both the name of the team and its main logo are racist, and gained additional support for the change alongside the Black Lives Matter movement following the death of George Floyd.

The Miami Dolphins made it official by choosing quarterback Tua Tagovailoa from the University of Alabama with the No. 5 pick in the 2020 virtual NFL draft. The Dolphins selected the former Heisman Trophy runner-up during widespread speculation about his durability at the next level in the National Football League. Since the beginning of training camp, Tagovailoa has passed his team physical and is cleared to take the field with his teammates. Currently he’s is listed as the team’s backup quarterback behind Ryan Fitzpatrick.

The idea of redshirting or bringing Tagovailoa on slowly as a starting quarterback should be considered this first year. It used to be the standard for first-year quarterbacks to sit and learn behind a veteran starter. Some notable examples of redshirting a first-round draft pick would be Aaron Rodgers, who didn't start a game for the Green Bay Packers in his first three seasons as he sat behind Brett Favre, and Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, as he sat the first 15 games of his rookie season behind Alex Smith and only started in Week 17 because the Chiefs clinched a playoff spot. Now those two quarterbacks both have an MVP and a Super Bowl title associated with them. Rodgers won the NFL MVP award in 2011 and 2014 and Mahomes won the MVP award in 2018. Rodgers won Super Bowl XLV with the Packers and Mahomes won Superbowl LIV with the Chiefs.

The Miami Dolphins front office shouldn’t go unnoticed either with this transformation and resurgence. The team is led by head coach Brian Flores, one of only four Black head coaches in the NFL, and general manager Chris Grier, who is one of only two Black GMs currently in the NFL. The pressure and scrutiny will be intensified as the start of the regular season approaches, but the franchise continued to make strides by revamping its “takes no talent” defense.

The Dolphins have also set themselves up for dominating in the AFC East, with the recent departure of Tom Brady from AFC East rival New England Patriots to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The move caused a quarterback carousel, causing Jameis Winston (former quarterback of the Buccaneers) to sign with the New Orleans Saints; Teddy Bridgewater (former quarterback of the Saints) to sign with the Carolina Panthers; and Cam Newton (former quarterback of the Panthers) to sign with the Patriots.

When the Miami Dolphins face off against the New England Patriots on Sept. 13, Newton will be the starting quarterback and team captain. He won the NFL MVP in 2015 when he led the Panthers to a 15-1 record and an appearance in Super Bowl 50 (the team lost to the Denver Broncos 24-10). Since being released by the Panthers and signing to the Patriots, Newton has swiftly established himself as a leader in Foxborough as he and his new team are set to enter the post-Brady era.

There have been numerous instances of teams moving on from their starting quarterback and bringing in new blood hoping to invigorate the franchise. When former New Orleans Saints quarterback Teddy Bridgewater signed with the Carolina Panthers back on March 25, it marked not only the end of the Cam Newton era in Carolina but the 10th time that a Black starting quarterback was succeeded by another Black quarterback. The former All-Dade standout quarterback (Bridgewater) at Miami Northwestern Senior High school went 5-0 as a starter (103.7 QB rating) for the Saints last year after Drew Brees was injured in his first meaningful action since 2015 (Minnesota Vikings).

Before reviving his career over the past two seasons at New Orleans, Bridgewater was coming off a sophomore season in which he started all 16 games for the Minnesota Vikings, amassing 3,231 passing yards, 14 touchdowns and earned a Pro Bowl nomination, things only looked up for the 2014 first-round pick prior to the injury (Bridgewater tore his ACL in practice on Aug. 30, 2016). The setback eventually brought about the end of Bridgewater's time in Minnesota.

“There’s so many people who had the opportunity to make it to the level that I’ve made it, but along the road there were things that stopped them from reaching their full potential," he said.

Now Bridgewater has the chance to compete in the NFC South and set himself up as one of the elite quarterbacks within that division.

The NFL season begins Thursday, Sept. 10 with the Kansas City Chiefs beginning to defend their title at home against the Houston Texans. Football is back!

The Miami Times is the largest Black-owned newspaper in the south serving Miami's Black community since 1923. The award-winning weekly is frequently recognized as the best Black newspaper in the country by the National Newspaper Publishers Association.