The Oakland Raiders have been an inconsistent team for the last decade, but one thing they never had to worry about was the punting game, as Shane Lechler is considered a Hall of Fame talent, but now that he is a Texan, the team has decided to address the loss by signing former Vikings punter Chris Kluwe.
According to ESPN.com, Kluwe is signing with the Raiders on Thursday after his release from Minnesota and he will likely replace Lechler, who was with the team for over a decade and is the career leader in gross average per punt in NFL history. Lechler signed with the Houston Texans in the offseason when the Raiders let him go and now Kluwe will join the silver and black on Thursday when the team is planning to announce the deal.
Kluwe was released from the Vikings earlier in the month and many felt that his outspoken views and opinions on gay marriage and other topics was the reason, although the Vikings denied that. The team likely decided it was too much and drafted a fifth round punter to give them a legitimate way to say, "we didn't cut Chris Kluwe because of his opinion on gay equality." Mission accomplished. But that hasn't stopped Kluwe from catching on with the Raiders and now he likely will take over for Lechler and push Marquette King out after he signed last year.
Kluwe has California toots, as he went to high school in SoCal and was in college at UCLA before joining the Vikings. Kluwe was a solid player for the Vikings for right seasons, averaging 44.4 yards per punt while also setting a career high in net average. The Vikings cut him since he was set to make $1.45 million this season and now he has a new team. Vikings special-teams coordinator Mike Priefer didn't like Kluwe's distractions and now he is gone from the team, although Kluwe said he never had any issues with his teammates while on the team.
"What I do is, when I'm there to play football, that's the only thing I'm there for. I'm not going to preach ... or tell anyone what to do because that's not what I'm getting paid to do," he said.