Did Prince Amukamara's Nigerian heritage have anything to do with why Amukamara, a top 10 talent on most draft boards, fell all the way to the New York at No. 19? Dan Pompei at the National Football Post thinks so.
Wrote Pompei:
A lot of NFL people are skeptical about Nigerian players like Amukarma. "And it’s not just white men," one executive said. "It’s whites and blacks." It’s still a subtle form of racism. The word on Nigerians: they are soft, not tough enough and too educated.
Pro Football Weekly referenced "a quirky personality and questions arising about how well he would fit into an NFL locker room." Which, in light of Pompei's assertions, has to be taken to mean -- because he is Nigerian.
If there is any validity to this, it is the height of stupidity for NFL teams who will pretty much crawl under any rock to try and find a player who can help them.
Oh, and then there is the small matter of all of the Nigerian-born players who have starred in the league -- including the Giants' Osi Umenyiora. If there is such a bias, which seems ridiculous in the modern world. thank goodness the Giants didn't pay any attention to it.
This is soft?
Or this?
I will take 'soft' when it plays like that.