Herman Edwards was a mediocre head coach and mediocre evaluator of talent, not to mention a devout Christian who thankfully is not promoting an intolerant locker room in addition to not wasting talent on his horrible game-calling.
These talks of draft boards and draft position are bullspit given all 32 teams have their draft boards and have their favorites in different positions that conflict with consensus. Seriously people, you don't think in the thick of this announcement people like SI and ESPN want to stir up maximum drama for the sake of narrative? Didn't the Richard Sherman issue prove sports media is high on the list of places that make a mountain out of a mole hill?
Most of these players and coaches I am finding who are critical are either out of the game or currently in a rather dubious NFL position. That Thamel and Evans piece everyone talked about from SI never directly quoted a high-ranking executive. They got their quick quotes down the food-chain. I noticed a lot of athletes who are currently active were not just supportive but were critical of the anonymity taken by those people in that piece. If you really think the league is not ready for a gay player, why not attach your name to that opinion your parlay as fact?
I'm with the female journalist. It's not going to be that big of a deal, just like when people cried persecution with Tim Tebow, it was more about the outside noise than the actual locker room. An NFL locker room is pretty eclectic. Nobody, not a gay player or a player with aspirations of being a church leader, is throwing it off. The real concern should be, and should always have been, the old dinosaurs who scout and evaluate the players in personnel. They're just that dumb enough to not know there are many gay players who they put on their team in the first place.
There was that rumor circulating for the past season that multiple NFL players had planned to come out together. I really hope the NFLPA actually holds up to that promise, since this rumor basically came from them.
Whatever, the NFL has more to worry about with concussions and brain injuries than a gay player. This is undoubtedly huge but I swear in a few years the issue of Michael Sam will be filed under, 'I can't believe we were so worried about this issue'.
Updated On: 2/10/14 at 04:49 PM
