Any question about religion in the NFL or Christianity as it pertains to football always comes back to one name at some point and that name is Tim Tebow, but as the offseason rolls along, two other names have come up in the conversation about religion and the league and they are quarterbacks as well in Washington Redskins backup Kirk Cousins and Fresno Stats starter prospect Derek Carr and partly in regard to Michael Sam it makes one wonder about openly religious players in the league.
Cousins has been mentioned in numerous trade rumors this offseason after reports came out that the Redskins would listen to offers for the backup of RG3, but so far he has remained in Washington. The Cleveland Browns have been mentioned as a potential team where he could go and this article idea comes from a website dedicated to that city, as ESPNCleveland.com wrote about Derek Carr and his religious beliefs earlier in the offseason.
The reason Cousins has come up in all this is for comments he made regarding Michael Sam, as he said that he would welcome him in and would "love him like Jesus and hopefully show him what it means to follow Jesus" and he also added that 'nobody's perfect" when it comes to living with sin and the "homosexual" lifestyle and while he thinks he was being tolerant or welcoming, Cousins instead showed some ignorance in his comments.
Either way, Tebow is not in the league right now and some would say part of it is due to his religious beliefs and the fact that he speaks about them quite a bit. Tebow doesn't just bring what he does on the field to a team if he signs with them, he brings the media and everything else and one reason why he is so popular is due to those religious beliefs. Carr was asked about his religious beliefs and he says he thinks about it in regards to playing football and being in the NFL and about how his family was involved in the church. Check more on his comments here.
This article is not meant to bash any player with religious beliefs or strong opinions about that, but merely to bring up the question, because the fact that Tebow is not in the NFL can be draw to his religious beliefs in some respects and while it mostly has to do with his skills, it also has to do with the media attention he brings and his strong Christian beliefs are part of that. Carr is on his way to being drafted, Tebow is out of the league and Kirk Cousins is a backup in Washington.
