So, I got thinking the other day about NFL cornerbacks. Watching a game, I think, and it just kinda popped into my head.
You know, it felt like I hadn’t seen many white dudes playing that specific spot. Not recently, anyway. Was I just imagining things or misremembering? Seemed like something worth checking out, just for my own curiosity.
So, I decided to actually look into it.
Fired up my computer, went to my usual search engine. Typed in something simple, like ‘white NFL cornerbacks’. Didn’t really know what to expect, honestly.
Right away, some names popped up from the past. Jason Sehorn was a big one, remember him? Played for the Giants. Good player. So okay, yeah, it definitely happened. They weren’t imaginary.
Digging a Little Deeper
But that was then. What about now, or the last decade or so? That was the question really bugging me. Seemed much rarer these days.
I started trying to think of current players. Couldn’t really name any off the top of my head. So, I went looking at some team rosters online. Just scanned through the cornerback lists for a few teams. Didn’t see any white players listed there, at least not on the ones I checked.
Then I broadened my search. Looked for articles, discussions, maybe lists people had put together online. Found a bunch of forum threads, blog posts talking about exactly this. Seems other folks had noticed it too.
People were bringing up names, mostly historical ones:
- Jason Sehorn, like I mentioned. He came up a lot.
- Some mentioned Kevin Kaesviharn, though he played safety a lot too.
- Dustin Fox was another name that came up from the 2000s.
- Then you had guys from way back, like Pat Fischer in the 60s and 70s.
Reading through all that, it became pretty clear. Yeah, it’s uncommon. Very uncommon, especially in the modern NFL. My gut feeling wasn’t wrong.
So, the next question was why?
Found lots of opinions on that. People talking about the specific athletic skills usually needed for corner – that top-end speed, the quick-twitch change of direction, the jumping ability. Theories about player development pipelines, demographics in college football feeding into the league.
It wasn’t like I found one single answer, more like a general consensus that the pool of athletes coming into the league with that elite cornerback skillset just hasn’t included many white players for a while now. Maybe shifts in training, maybe where kids focus their positions growing up, who knows exactly?
Look, this wasn’t some deep, academic research project. Just me, satisfying my own curiosity after watching a game. Spent maybe an hour or so just clicking around, reading different takes.
Basically confirmed what I thought I was seeing. It’s a position where you just don’t see white players very often anymore. There were some notable ones back in the day, sure, but it’s a real rarity now. That’s pretty much what I found out. Just how it is, I guess.
