Tim Tebow is a member of ESPN now and while he is working on getting back to his NFL career at some point, Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe spoke on Olbermann about why the quarterback and himself are no longer in the league and he says that it's due to the fact that both players have been vocal about various issues, Tebow with his religious faith and the punter in his support of gay equality.
According to Pro Football Talk, Kluwe was on the TV show Olbermann on Thursday and spoke about how recent comments regarding the Vikings and his expression of his beliefs on gay marriage and how it relates to Tebow's situation as well. Kluwe said that both he and Tebow are in the same boat when it comes to expressing views and that the NFL is not a place where players can truly express themselves and explains that Tebow is better than some backup QBs in the league, but with all that "he brings" with him, teams have avoided it.
Kluwe accused the Vikings of getting rid of him because of expressing his views and while the team claimed and can point to performance as the reasons for the release and while that may be true, it doesn't mean the team didn't have motivations, it means they are smart for finding a good justification to get rid of him. Tebow is not in the league after the New England Patriots released him before the season and now he is working with ESPN and plans on continuing his NFL pursuit. A team like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers could be a nice option, as they have a young QB in Mike Glennon and no strong backup and a coach like Lovie Smith would be great for Tebow to work under and he likely wouldn't cost much either and he is in his home state of Florida.
Kluwe went on to say that the league and execs are not comfortable with players expressing themselves, including Tebow, who is on the other wide of the spectrum from Kluwe. The punter said the two players are two sides of the same coin and that the league does not accept players like himself that express their views.
"As much as we are polar opposites on the things we stand for, Tebow is the exact same way," Kluwe said. "There are backup quarterbacks in the NFL right now that Tebow is certainly better than - he could fill a role with a team. But because he brings this other stuff with him, just like I bring my other stuff with me, teams look at it like, 'We don't want it. We don't want players speaking out. We don't want players doing anything other than football.'"
