ESPN personality sees new ‘white folks’ conspiracy ahead of NFL season

BS BULLETIN

Bomani Jones says “White folks” are especially eager for a Josh Allen “coronation,” without offering evidence that Allen’s popularity is racially driven.
This isn’t new: Jones previously said some people give Allen extra credit because he’s White.
Meanwhile, Allen has 30,102 career passing yards, 220 passing TDs and another 79 rushing TDs. Maybe people just like watching him play.

The NFL season hasn’t even started, and Bomani Jones has already discovered the real story surrounding Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen.

White people.

On his podcast this week, the former ESPN personality discussed expectations surrounding Buffalo when he suddenly turned the conversation into a racial analysis of Allen’s popularity.

“Boy, White folks is so ready for the eventual Josh Allen coronation.”

Jones quickly added:

“And it’s not all the White folks, but it’s White folks. We ain’t got it.”

His guest, The Ringer writer Diante Lee, agreed:

“It’s enough of them.”

Quite the accusation.

There was only one thing missing.

Evidence.

Which White fans? Which sportswriters? Which broadcasters? Which polls? Which studies? Which examples establish that White football fans support Allen because he is White?

None were offered.

Bomani Jones on Josh Allen:

“America’s number one rooting project… they got him a new stadium. Boy, white folks is so ready for the for the eventual Josh Allen coronation. And it’s not all dem white folks, but it’s white folks. We ain’t got it.”

Why is he talking like that? https://t.co/FAxNUZXwd5

— Bobby Burack (@burackbobby_) August 14, 2026

OutKick says it contacted Jones and Lee seeking an explanation for the racial-bias claim and had not received a response by publication.

Perhaps there’s another explanation for why football fans are excited about Josh Allen.

I have a theory. Stay with me here.

Josh Allen is really good at football. Maybe it’s the 299 touchdowns.

According to the NFL’s official statistics, Allen enters 2026 with 30,102 passing yards and 220 passing touchdowns. He’s also rushed for 4,721 yards and 79 touchdowns. That’s 299 combined regular-season touchdowns in eight seasons.

Last year alone, Allen completed 69.4% of his passes, threw for 3,668 yards and 25 touchdowns, then added 579 rushing yards and 14 more touchdowns on the ground.

That’s not White privilege. That’s a quarterback running over linebackers.

And Buffalo isn’t exactly a town desperately searching for a reason to become interested in its football team. The Bills just opened a new 60,108-seat Highmark Stadium, described by the organization as the largest construction project in Western New York history. Bills fans have spent decades waiting for another Super Bowl. They finally have one of the league’s elite quarterbacks.

And Bomani Jones looks at all that excitement and thinks: Hmmm. Must be the White people.

Jones has been pushing variations of the Allen-race theory for years. Back in 2024, discussing Allen alongside Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson and C.J. Stroud, Jones said:

“It’s three Black dudes and Josh Allen.”

He then acknowledged something revealing:

“We all gave Black dudes too many points.”

But Jones nevertheless suggested that some people would similarly give Allen “too many points” because he’s White. Years earlier, Jones went considerably further. Discussing Black quarterbacks on the Dan Le Batard show, Jones argued that the NFL historically relied on White quarterbacks as the league’s public faces and said people wanted Allen to succeed badly. He ultimately asserted that people “root for the white quarterback” because that’s what they had traditionally rooted for.

So this week’s remark isn’t an isolated joke. It’s part of a long-running racial framework Jones has applied to quarterback discussions. And that’s where the whole argument becomes rather strange. Because look around the modern NFL.

Patrick Mahomes became arguably the league’s biggest star. Lamar Jackson became one of its most celebrated players. Jalen Hurts has been one of football’s most recognizable quarterbacks. Jayden Daniels became an immediate sensation. Fans cheer for great quarterbacks. They also argue endlessly about them.

That’s sports.

There is a legitimate football debate involving Allen and Lamar Jackson. Jackson has his strengths. Allen has his. You can make a case for either player depending on what you’re measuring. Jones himself has called Allen a “great quarterback” while arguing that Mahomes was still on another level.

Fine! That’s sports talk. Argue completion percentage. Argue touchdowns. Argue interceptions. Argue playoff records. Argue MVPs. Argue who has the better supporting cast. Argue who chokes in January. Argue until somebody at the bar asks you to please go home. That’s what makes sports fun.

But once the explanation becomes White people like the White quarterback because he’s White, you need something more substantial than a hunch.

Especially when the person making that argument has openly discussed giving Black players extra consideration himself. You can’t project your own racial scorecard onto millions of football fans and call it analysis.

MY QUICK TAKE:

I miss when sports arguments were stupid in the fun way.

Montana or Marino? Magic or Bird? Jordan or LeBron? Brady or Manning? You’d argue for three hours, insult your best friend’s intelligence, order another plate of wings and somehow remain friends. Now we’ve got people examining the racial psychology of somebody wearing a Buffalo Bills jersey.

Maybe — just maybe — the guy wearing No. 17 at the sports bar isn’t expressing his attachment to the racial power structure. Maybe he lives in Buffalo. Maybe his father loved the Bills. Maybe his grandfather loved the Bills. Maybe he watched Josh Allen throw a football 60 yards and then bulldoze a 240-pound linebacker and thought: I like that guy.

Crazy theory, I know. And let’s apply the rule evenly. If somebody said Black fans only love Lamar Jackson because Lamar is Black, I’d want to see the evidence before accepting that claim too. Because reducing somebody’s sports preferences to skin color without evidence is lazy no matter who does it.

Bomani Jones has spent years discussing how Black quarterbacks deserve to be appreciated as quarterbacks rather than filtered through racial stereotypes.

There’s truth in that history. Black quarterbacks absolutely faced stereotypes about intelligence, leadership and whether they could play the position at the highest level. But if the goal is to get beyond racial stereotyping, how does replacing it with: White quarterback popular — investigate White people move us forward? Josh Allen doesn’t need a racial explanation. Lamar Jackson doesn’t need one either.

They’re extraordinary athletes playing the hardest position in American sports.

Don’t tell millions of strangers what their racial motivations supposedly are unless you’ve got something better than:

Trust me, I know how White folks think.

If Allen finally delivers Buffalo its first Super Bowl championship, Bills Mafia won’t care whether the man standing next to them is White, Black, Hispanic, Asian or Martian.

They’ll be too busy jumping through a table. Now that is a Buffalo tradition worth analyzing.