“If you think of the 32 owners of the National Football League,” asks Keyshawn Johnson. “How many of them do you think truly have Black friends?” Johnson won the Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2003. He’s also the co-author of “The Forgotten First: Kenny Washington, Woody Strode, Marion Motley, Bill Willis, and the Breaking of the NFL Color Barrier.” The book belongs in the history aisle, but Johnson argues it’s as relevant as ever given the NFL’s lack of diversity within its higher ranks — highlighted in a lawsuit brought by former Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores. For Johnson, it’s the team owners who create the biggest barrier for change, rather than the league itself. “The NFL is a governing body, it’s a part of them. But they make their own minds and decisions up.” Johnson says. “We got to get the owners to start to think like the NFL, as opposed to their country club members.” Will and LZ are joined by Johnson and Glauber, and by Kenny Washington’s grandson, Kraig Washington.
