As he so often does, Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett got some attention with comments to the media this week, saying that Lions running back Zach Zenner is the best of a rare breed in the NFL, the white running back.
Zenner says he appreciates that.
“That does not bother me, no,” Zenner said, via the Detroit Free Press. “Everyone’s entitled to their opinion and it sounded like he said some pretty nice stuff. So I’m appreciative of that and I think he’s a really good player and we’ve got to be ready to face him. He does some stuff that you just kind of say wow when you look at the tape.”
There are so few white running backs in the NFL that some people believe there’s discrimination against white running backs: High school coaches may tell a white kid to play a different position. College coaches may not recruit a good white running back. NFL teams may hesitate to draft a white running back. Could that kind of discrimination have contributed to the difficult route Zenner had to take to the NFL, playing his college ball at South Dakota State and then making the Lions only as an undrafted free agent?
Zenner doesn’t buy it. He doesn’t think he has received any different treatment than a black running back would.
“I mean, I’m here, I had the same opportunity as everyone else so I would say none,” Zenner said.
Zenner gets the biggest opportunity of his career on Saturday, starting for the Lions in a playoff game against Bennett’s Seahawks.
