Now that the Vikings have put Chris Kluwe on waivers (opting instead to employ 5th-round draft choice Jeff Locke) the next question is — where will play next season (if he plays)?
The short list appears to be Cleveland or Oakland, according to NBCSports. com, which says Kluwe could help several teams.
RantSports.com says Kluwe would be a perfect fit for the Raiders, a franchise that always seems to embrace the outspoken: “Kluwe is known as a renegade who is not afraid to express his thoughts in a profanity-laced way. Can you think of an active NFL player who more personifies the Raider Nation than Kluwe?”
Meanwhile, Vikings GM Rick Spielman says Kluwe’s activism had nothing to do with his release, telling the Star Tribune: “I have no issues if Chris Kluwe wants to express his opinion. That’s his right, that’s his freedom of speech. This is just a football decision to bring in a guy to come in to compete.”
FoxSports columnist Jen Floyd Engel says that’s a lie. That Kluwe’s activism was certainly a factor: “We are all liars really. We say we want athletes to take stands and have opinions, but this is a lie. We demand they shut up and play, or insist if they must speak that they share our opinions. We refuse to let them be citizens, be human, be real.”
Also today, Sports Illustrated compiled a robust list of Kluwe’s rants. It ranges from his 2010 mocking of an NFL training video to yesterday’s tweet saying “one label does not define who you are as a person” — with plenty of sparkle ponies in-between.
