Chris Kluwe


Christopher James Kluwe is an American writer, social activist and former professional football player who was a punter in the National Football League. He played college football for the UCLA Bruins before signing with the Seattle Seahawks as an undrafted free agent in 2005. He played in the NFL for the Seahawks, Minnesota Vikings, and Oakland Raiders.
Kluwe is widely known for his eight seasons with the Minnesota Vikings, where he set eight individual team records. During this period, Kluwe became an outspoken advocate on social issues, including same sex marriage and gay rights, which ultimately led to tension between Kluwe and coaching staff.
Kluwe was released by the Vikings after the 2012 season, signed with the Oakland Raiders prior to the 2013 season, and was subsequently released. Kluwe was unable to find another NFL team with which to sign and retired from professional football in 2013. Following his departure from football, he has pursued a writing career and was a humor columnist for the sports website Deadspin.

Early life

Kluwe played three years of varsity football for coach John Barnes at Los Alamitos High School in Los Alamitos, California, and was selected to play in both the California-Texas Shrine game and the CaliFlorida Bowl. He was named a USA Today first-team All-American as a punter. He kicked an Orange County and CIF Playoff record 60-yard field goal vs. Loyola to force overtime in an eventual 30–23 victory. Averaging 46.6 yards as a punter, he had 10 punts of at least 60 yards and placed six kicks inside the 10-yard line. As a placekicker, he made 16 of 22 field goal attempts and 39 of 41 PATs. Prior to his senior year, he won the punting competition at the National Kicking Invitational with a 63-yard punt that had 4.98 seconds of hang time. Kluwe also played one year of baseball as a pitcher.

College career

Kluwe enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he developed into one of the top punters in the Pac-10 Conference. He graduated in 2005 with a double major in political science and history. He set school records for both total punt yardage and total number of punts in a season in 2003. In his senior year, he ranked 3rd in the Pac-10 and 12th in the NCAA in yards per punt. He was selected as special teams player of the game in the Silicon Valley Football Classic against Fresno State after averaging 44.3 yards on nine kicks. He also tied the bowl record with his nine punts and placed three kicks inside the 20-yard line. Kluwe was a finalist in his senior year for the Ray Guy Award that annually recognizes the best collegiate punter.

College statistics

Professional career

Seattle Seahawks

Kluwe was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Seattle Seahawks in 2005. Kluwe had been notified by both the Seahawks and St. Louis Rams that either team might draft him in the late rounds. As soon as the draft ended, Kluwe signed a free agent contract with Seattle. Kluwe had an excellent training camp with Seattle, to the point where Donnie Jones was released after the first week of Organized Team Activities, leaving Kluwe and Leo Araguz splitting time during the pre-season games for the punting duties. Kluwe was told by the Seahawks prior to the final pre-season game they were going to take him to the practice squad and the Seahawks wanted Kluwe both as a potential back-up and for developmental reasons. Due to NFL rules, the Seahawks had to place Kluwe on the waiver wire for 24 hours prior to signing him to a practice squad contract. The Seahawks waited until the last minute to place Kluwe on the waiver wire as they knew three teams had been scouting Kluwe as a potential punter for their team. The Seahawks concerns were well founded as Kluwe was claimed off the waiver wire early the next day by the Vikings.

Minnesota Vikings

Kluwe became one of the most surprising pickups for the Vikings, finishing his first season with an average of 44.1 yards per punt, ranking second in the NFC and sixth in the league. He punted 71 times during his first season. Kluwe was also named NFC special teams player of the month for September 2005 – a first for any Vikings special teams rookie.
During a Week-13 game in Detroit, Lions safety Vernon Fox dove towards Kluwe during a punt and collided with Kluwe's plant foot. Although initial concerns were that Kluwe had a broken ankle, tests showed Kluwe had a sprained ankle. What the tests did also show was that earlier in the game when the ball was snapped over Kluwe's head and he had to make a running and jumping rugby style kick to avoid being blocked, he tore his right ACL when he landed after the kick. Kicker Paul Edinger was the punter for the remainder of the game, but a few days later the Vikings signed 42-year-old veteran Darren Bennett for 1 week. Kluwe then returned to play the final 3 games of the 2005 season with a torn ACL in his kicking leg, which prompted his then coach Mike Tice to reply to a reporter's question about Kluwe's injury that "My punter is a tough guy." As Tice was not known to be sympathetic towards punters and kickers, this showed the amount of respect he had for Kluwe's willingness to play with a serious injury. During the 2006 off-season Kluwe had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee to repair the ACL. The operation was successful and Kluwe returned to the Vikings in full health for the 2006 season.
On October 25, 2007, Kluwe signed an $8.3-million contract extension through 2013. The deal made Kluwe, who would have been a restricted free agent in the 2008 offseason, one of the 10 highest-paid punters in the NFL.
On December 20, 2010, Kluwe had the dubious distinction of punting the ball that the Chicago Bears' Devin Hester would return for a touchdown, breaking the all-time NFL record for combined punt and kickoff returns for touchdowns. Previously in the game, Kluwe had successfully kept the ball out of Hester's hands on four punts.
In 2011, Kluwe changed his jersey number when the Vikings acquired quarterback Donovan McNabb. McNabb previously wore #5 for the Washington Redskins and Philadelphia Eagles, and requested the same number when he arrived in Minnesota, which was then being worn by Kluwe. Kluwe agreed on the condition that McNabb make a $5,000 donation to charity, to mention Kluwe's band Tripping Icarus a total of five times during McNabb's press conferences, and to buy Kluwe an ice cream cone. Kluwe took up #4 which had been worn by quarterback Brett Favre in 2009 and 2010. Following McNabb's departure from the team, Kluwe reclaimed his old #5 for the 2012 season. McNabb did mention Kluwe's band three times and did write the check for the donation, but did not buy Kluwe the ice cream cone until 5 years later.
After a poor performance in an October 25, 2012 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Vikings brought in several punters for workouts to potentially replace Kluwe. Kluwe had been playing since 2007 with a torn meniscus. His discomfort caused by the condition late in 2012 led to him deciding to have surgery during the offseason. In January 2013, the team signed punter T.J. Conley to a futures contract. Kluwe finished the 2012 season with an average of 45.0 yards per punt, ranking tenth in the NFC and 22nd in the league.
Kluwe had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee to repair a torn meniscus in early 2013. Recovery was uneventful and Kluwe was back to full health in a matter of weeks. During the 2013 NFL draft, the Vikings drafted Jeff Locke in the 5th round of the draft as a punter. Speculation immediately surfaced that Kluwe's days were numbered with the Vikings due to the use of a relatively high draft round pick for a punter. On May 6, 2013, Kluwe was released by the Minnesota Vikings.

Vikings team records

Kluwe holds a number of team punt records for the Minnesota Vikings.
  1. #1 Career Punt Avg., 44.4, 2005–2012
  2. #1 Game Punt Avg., 54.3, 2005
  3. #1 Rookie Game Punt Avg., 54.3, 2005
  4. #1 Career Playoff Punt Avg., 45.2, 2005–2012
  5. #1 Average Punts per Season, 78, 2005–2012
  6. #1 Career Punts Inside 20, 198, 2005–2012
  7. #1, #2, #5 Season Punts Inside 20, 34 / 32 / 28, 2007 / 2010 / 2006
  8. #1 Game Punts Inside 20, 5, 2007
  9. #8 Career Blocked Punts, 1, 2005–2012
  10. #2 Career Punts, 623, 2005–2012
  11. #2 Rookie Season Punts, 71, 2005
  12. #2 Season Fewest Touchbacks, 2, 2012
  13. #2 Career Net Yds. Avg., 37.2, 2005–2012
  14. #2, #4 Season Net Yds. Avg., 39.7 / 38.9, 2012 / 2010

    Oakland Raiders

Kluwe signed with the Oakland Raiders on May 15, 2013, less than two weeks after being released by the Vikings. Kluwe signed for a veteran minimum contract for one year. Kluwe was given his old number by the Raiders and competed with Marquette King for the position of punter. Kluwe expressed thanks to the Raiders for picking him up and stated that, "I am glad to be a Raider and playing back in California, where I grew up." On September 1, Kluwe tweeted that he had been released by the Raiders.
On January 3, 2014, Kluwe retired from football. After a year of not playing, he did not want to attempt playing in the NFL again, and believed his chances were slim given [|his outspoken views about same-sex marriage] and criticism of the Vikings.

NFL career statistics

Regular season

Playoffs

Activism

2011 NFL lockout

During the 2011 NFL lockout, the Boston Globe reported that an agreement between owners and the players' union was being held up by special considerations for a few top employees, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Vincent Jackson, and Logan Mankins. Kluwe tweeted his frustration at this impasse, assailing their greed and calling them "douchebags."
After Nate Jackson wrote an article for the sports website Deadspin, excoriating Kluwe for talking "out of turn," Kluwe responded with his own article, highlighting the contrast between his own fruitful career and Jackson's lack of statistics, while reiterating his opinion that four people endangering the livelihoods of the 1,900 affected by the dispute was "pretty much the definition of greed."