The NFL allows players to wear the flag of another country on the back of their helmet as a way to pay tribute to their heritage.
On Sunday, Washington Commanders second-year quarterback Jayden Daniels had the flag of Japan on the back of his helmet.
It surprised many people. Daniels is a Black man from California.
But after the game, Daniels provided the explanation:
"My great-grandmother is Japanese, so showing love to her," Daniels told reporters.
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For an NFL QB to have Japanese heritage appears to be a rarity.
It seems we have to go back 97 years to 1928, when a man named Arthur Matsu played for the NFL's Dayton Triangles. Records show that Matsu was a Japanese-Scottish American.
Matsu was born in Glasgow to a Japanese father and Scottish mother. He moved to Canada, then to Cleveland. He was compared to Jim Thorpe as a teenager, having been a star baseball, football and basketball player, a track star, a pole vaulter and a strong swimmer.
He went to William & Mary and did four sports there.
Matsu started four games for the Triangles in 1928, his only season in the NFL. He went on to coach football at the high school and collegiate levels.
The other possible entrant to the category of Japanese QB is Robert Griffin III. But RG3 has no Japanese ethnicity in his blood. He was born on a U.S. military base in Okinawa to two parents in the U.S. Army, which makes him an American Citizen.
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That leaves Daniels, whose Japanese heritage is a few more generations removed than Matsu's was.
But it appears he is proud of that part of himself and of his family and wants to share it with the world.
Daniels is certainly a major figure in the NFL. He won Rookie of the Year last season after being the No. 2 overall pick out of LSU, where he had won the Heisman Trophy.
His star should only continue to shine bright, and at least for now, he's doing it with the Japanese flag on the back of his helmet.
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