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Brian Hartline’s teammates think he’s underrated because he’s white
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/10/11/brian-hartlines-teammates-think-hes-underrated-because-hes-white/

When Jordy Nelson was breaking out for the Packers last season, his fellow wide receiver Greg Jennings said that he thought Nelson got underestimated around the league because he’s white.

According to some members of the Dolphins, Nelson’s big 2011 season hasn’t changed much on that front. Ben Volin of the Palm Beach Post writes that Hartline, who ran track for a time at Ohio State and has shown he can get behind defenses, keeps hearing that the Dolphins need to get some more speed at receiver while hearing himself described as being “deceptively fast.” Wide receiver Davone Bess and quarterback Ryan Tannehill think that their teammate’s skills get downgraded because, like Nelson, people are put off by a white wide receiver.

“Yeah, man. Definitely,” Bess said when asked if people underrate Hartline’s speed because of his skin color. “He can run. That’s good that they sleep on him, because come game time he can open up on them.”

“I’ve had that label before, too. It’s just kind of a stigma that comes with it,” Tannehill, who played receiver in college before moving to quarterback, said of the “deceptively fast” label. “If it helps you, then it helps you. I don’t know if teams underestimate him or anything, but he’s making plays for us, and it doesn't matter what color you are.”

While preconceived notions about race have surely contributed to some judgments about Hartline, who leads the NFL with 514 receiving yards, his sneak attack on the NFL this season has had much to do with preconceived notions about the Dolphins passing game as well. The combination of a rookie quarterback that draft pundits said would need a lot of grooming and an unheralded receiving corps led many to write off the Dolphins’ ability to move the ball through the air before the season started.

That was obviously premature and we imagine that teams watching film on Hartline now are more concerned with his ability to beat defenses deep than they are with the color of his skin.

Not gonna open up that can of worms, but just think how good Brian would be if he could jump? lol

Go on open it up, worms don't bite, lol. Don't really think it matters how you are rated, performance is what really matters.

Ha, ha, reminds me of the Tosh.0 episode where the guy said that "It's OK to make a movie called White Men Can't Jump, but if you made a movie called Black Men Can't Swim." It would be labeled a racist and Jackson, Sharpton, and every other fruitcake would come out of the woodwork like roaches to stand up and protest such oppression. Gotta love to good old double standard in this country !!!!

I have heard the same thing said about Wes Welker. 

On Badger's point.  Rent this movie:  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114928/  You might enjoy it. 

Like usual, has nothing to do with what I'm talking about. Movies and reality are two different things.

Weren't you just talking about the movie "White Men Can't Jump"?  You know, the one where the white guy is the amazing basketball player that has a racket hustling people who judge him based on his race?

In that case: I doubt a movie called "Black Men Can't Swim" about a black man who is incredibly great at water polo would elicit calls of racism in the real world. 

Like the argument says a lot of the stigma comes from WR position being dominated by Black Athletes which phases out the minority. Just like QB being dominated by White Athletes for a time.  Its gonna be that same when its comes the the K or P position.  How many Black athletes you see playing Kicker or Punter.  Quite a few.  How many White athletes you see at the Cornerback or Running-back .  Its one of those  issues you will hear from time to time because its not Very common

Such a theory presumes that QBs are selected primarily based on arm strength, which I would call a stretch.

If I had to make a guess, I'd say that:

1) virtually all NFL skill-position players were multi-sport stars
2) white players are more likely to grow up also playing baseball (which places a high emphasis on precision throwing with power)
3) black players are more likely to grow up also playing basketball (which places a high emphasis on jumping and burst footspeed)

I would imagine that an extremely high number of NFL QBs were also baseball pitchers through high school (though I have no statistics to confirm that).  Furthermore, the arm mechanic for throwing a football is much more similar to throwing a baseball than it is to shooting a basketball.

In that case: I doubt a movie called "Black Men Can't Swim" about a black man who is incredibly great at water polo would elicit calls of racism in the real world.  I mean, if we're going to compare apples to apples.

As for Hartline, you're going to see white WRs pigeonholed as slow, just as you see black QBs pigeonholed in the Mike Vick role, or converted to WR or RB.  I mean, look at Tannehill; he was converted from WR to QB, but the majority of those conversions are black players that go in the other direction (e.g. Antwaan Randle El, Brad Smith).

Well to be honest Tannehill came to A & M as a QB, and only played WR because he wasn't as good as the QB's already on the roster (because of his being a freshman) and was too good of an athlete to be just holding a clipboard as a backup QB.

Hartline is a stud so quite complaining

Can we stop with this now? He's a solid #2 on any other team. 4 receptions for 59 yards over the past two games and shut out yesterday. His 12/253/1 game was a a fluke. It was a massive one, that helped Miami win a close game and he deserves all the credit in the world for it, but he's not a top 10 or even top 20 receiver. There's nothing wrong with that. Not every player on the roster has to be all world or "top whatever." This menatlity of thinking a guy is the greatest thing since sliced bread or the worst thing on the planet after having one spectacular or dismal game is bipolar. -EK

I didn't read anywhere that he was hurt. He played didn't he? Was he hurt last week too? <--Srs question. -EK