What Michael Vick Learned From Talking to Black Quarterbacks, Past and Present

Nearly half of the NFL’s teams—15 out of 32—started Black quarterbacks on opening week of the 2024 season, breaking the prior record of 14 Black signal-callers starting a season opener, which was set a year ago. A Black QB is the reigning back-to-back Super Bowl champ (Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs), and Black QBs have won the past two NFL MVP awards (Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson in 2023 and Mahomes the previous season). Last year’s Super Bowl was the first to feature two Black starters (Mahomes and Jalen Hurts of the Philadelphia Eagles). The past two NFL drafts have each seen, for the first time ever, two Black quarterbacks selected with the top two picks (Bryce Young of Carolina and C.J. Stroud of Houston in 2023, Caleb Williams of Chicago and Jayden Daniels of Washington this year). 

So a new Prime Video docuseries premiering today, Evolution of the Black Quarterback, comes at an opportune time, given all the successful African American players leading huddles. In the three-part series, host and series executive producer Michael Vick interviews pioneers like James “Shack” Harris and Doug Williams about the stigmas they faced as trailblazing Black QBs, while also catching up with current stars like Mahomes and Hurts. Vick, the first Black quarterback selected No. 1 overall in the NFL draft, in 2001, calls on everyone from white players like Steve Young and Buffalo’s Josh Allen, actor Jamie Foxx—who played high school quarterback in Texas and starred in the 1999 Oliver Stone football film Any Given Sunday—and Colin Kaepernick to trace cultural influence of Black QBs over the course of the last 100 years and detail the structural hurdles they had to overcome.

Before the series debut, Vick joined TIME to discuss what he learned developing the documentary, the challenges—or lack thereof—for today’s Black quarterbacks, and his chat with Kaepernick, who has not played a down in the NFL since the 2016 season, when he began kneeling to protest police brutality.

Why do this documentary now? 

The idea originated through my wife [Kijafa Vick, also an executive producer on the project] always witnessing people coming up to me and saying that I changed the game, I revolutionized the position. And I instantly think about the guys who came before me, who I’ve modeled my game after. I’ll be like, “Well, have you ever seen this guy? Have you ever seen Charlie Ward? Have you ever seen Doug Williams or Warren Moon?” The answer pretty much is no.

What did you learn from interviewing so many Black quarterbacks, past and present, for this series? 

What I learned is that most of us at some point had somebody that doubted us or stereotyped us or didn’t feel comfortable with us running the franchise or us being a big part of the evolution of the position. Guys had their own stories. Some were somber. And most of the guys used it as a tool to go out and continue to prove people wrong. 

We all fought. Rodney Peete and Doug Williams and Warren Moon, those guys were trailblazers. It was Donovan McNabb, Daunte Culpepper, Andre Ware, and Charlie Ward, who were trailblazers for me. They helped me continue to push to play the quarterback position and not give up on it. Knowing that it was going to be hard for me as a young man in high school being told that I was probably too short or was probably going to be switched to a different position–that was really tough to deal with from a mental standpoint.

Was there any moment or interaction that surprised you most?

What Warren Moon went through, having to go to Canada. Warren Moon, in today’s time, is a No. 1 pick. 

I’m glad you mentioned Moon, because that shocked me too. I wasn’t aware of how great he was in college, having won the Rose Bowl his senior year in 1978. Is there any conclusion a viewer can make to explain why Moon wasn’t drafted, other than that NFL teams didn’t want a Black player leading the franchise?

Yeah. It wasn’t the norm. It wasn’t the look. That was a time when the world was just different. People’s views were different. There were all types of stereotypes that you couldn’t be a quarterback in the National Football League, that you couldn’t be a leader in the locker room in your own right, you had to look a certain way. That was the stigma. It was happening in real time, and they had to take a different route. And then you fast-forward 20 years later, I was the first African American quarterback selected [No. 1 overall in the NFL Draft]. So that took courage for people to step out there and do that. Whether they were doing it to break a barrier or not, I think they were doing it because it was the right thing.

As a kid watching Doug Williams playing the Super Bowl, I’m like, “I’m used to seeing white quarterbacks. Who is this guy?” It was tough as a kid to play quarterback, knowing that at some point, you’ve invested all this time into the position and learning and you were going to get moved to a different position. There were points where I felt like giving up. And then the 1999 draft happened. [Eight Black quarterbacks were selected in that draft, including three in the first round: McNabb, Akili Smith, and Culpepper].

That’s why you see Andy Reid appear in this series. Because he worked with a lot of Black quarterbacks over the years [McNabb and Vick in Philadelphia, Mahomes in Kansas City]. He drafted Donovan No. 2. Donovan was my idol. He was who I looked up to. I modeled my career after him. I knew if Donovan could make it, I could do it too.

The other thing that surprised me was your interview with Charlie Ward, because Ward, 53, still looks like he’s 21 years old and can go out and play quarterback or NBA point guard. 

Charlie’s looking like he lives a stress-free life. 

The next Prime Video series has to be on the Charlie Ward diet. The Charlie Ward middle-aged diet plan. Whatever he’s eating, it’s working.

He ain’t eatin’. He’s drinkin’ smoothies. 

​​Do you have a specific experience confronting the racism or doubts that afflicted other Black quarterbacks? 

In high school there was a guy, I won’t say his name, he was a cornerback in the NFL. He was a Black guy. We were training together, and he asked me what school I was going to. I told him Virginia Tech. And he looked at me, and instantly he said, “You will be a DB [defensive back].” A Black man was telling me that. It motivated me, but it also made me really sad. Damn, I’m really wasting my time at quarterback. Because here’s a guy who was playing in NFL, who’s been around the quarterback position and been around professional quarterbacks, and knows what it’s all about. Instantly, he passed judgment on me. It was so heartbreaking. 

The crazy part, by the time he left that workout, he probably felt like I could play quarterback on the collegiate level, because I toasted him that day.

Why didn’t you change your position right then and there? 

My high school coach wouldn’t let me. He continued to push me. I told him what happened. He was so disappointed in that guy, because he knew him personally. He told me what the journey would be like. It would be lonely. It would be rigorous. I had to have thick skin. I’m so thankful I can talk about it now, the progression of the National Football League, and how it has been able to bring us together.

Rodney Peete said in the series that as a Black quarterback, he felt pressure to be “twice as good” as his peers to hold on to his position. Did you feel that way too?

Yeah. I did feel like I had to be twice as good, especially when I got to college. I felt like I had to be a leader, even though I was more of a laid-back, quiet guy. I tried to lead by example. I always felt like I was walking on eggshells. I had to hold myself to a higher standard. It helped me mature as a young man, as a young quarterback. Understanding the responsibility that I had. Because playing quarterback, it’s a big responsibility. You’ve got to be accountable. 

You made a high-profile public mistake in your career. You were punished and have atoned for it. But did your findings from this docuseries cause you to reassess at all how you were treated? Do you think your punishment, or perceptions of you, were harsher because you were a Black quarterback? 

No. I don’t think me being a Black quarterback had anything to do with the mistake that I made in life. You know, that was off the field. I spoke about accountability and leadership and how important that is. When being a quarterback, you have so high a standard, you have to be a role model. I didn’t truly take on that definition of a role model. I strayed away from it. I have no excuses, no regrets, other than it happening at a very inopportune time. Should have been more mature. Should have moved on from that in my life. But man, life is great now, surrounding myself with the right people over the last 10 years. And I get to work with all these amazing people and produce documentaries and have fun doing it and travel the world. And God continues to bless me and my family and the people around me, and that’s what’s most important. So I’m thankful for those moments, because it helped me grow and helped me learn. Because, I mean, my lawyer always said, “Man, it could have turned out different. You could have not been here.” Because of the way I was living my life. So I’m very fortunate.

You did an interview with Colin Kaepernick, who hasn’t done many interviews, for the film. Did you have any sense, from talking to him, that he has any regrets about his decision to kneel for the national anthem back in 2016? 

I think Kap’s happy. He’s living his best life. That’s all he can ask for. We didn’t dive into that. Because it wasn’t about that. It was about the football journey and wanting to hear his story on how he became a quarterback and if he ever had to overcome any issues. Some guys didn’t have to. I wanted to compare my stories with theirs. Just to see if they went through the same thing that I went through from a mental-health standpoint.

There were a record 15 Black quarterbacks who started for NFL teams this opening day. A commentator made the point in the series that we’re in a sort of post-Obama era of racial quarterback politics in the NFL. In other words, after so many Black quarterbacks have enjoyed success, and after a Black man was the leader of the free world, we’re no longer really in an era where Black QBs have to face the same stigmas that those in the past did. Do you agree with that? Or do quarterbacks still have to be mindful of stereotyping and fighting against that?

I’m very proud to say this, man. That doesn’t exist in the NFL anymore. I’m sure if that happened, somebody would go public with it. Because it hurts. If there are any examples, I would love to hear about them.