Chris Kluwe, Vikings lawsuit saga may be nearing a close

That lawsuit never came to fruition, however. Kluwe and the Vikings settled out of court Friday, and it’s unclear whether the full results of the investigation -- the thing Kluwe was purportedly really after -- will ever see the light of day.

In a July press conference, Kluwe claimed that the Vikings had received the report from investigators but were refusing to share it with him or the public, breaking a promise Kluwe claimed the team made to him. Reports indicated that the findings were favorable toward Kluwe, which could be one reason the team refused to make the findings public.

In early January, Deadspin published an open letter from Kluwe in which he alleged the Vikings released him in May of 2013 as a direct response to his gay rights activism during the 2012 season. The following day, the Vikings announced that they had hired Former Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court Eric Magnuson and former U.S. Department of Justice Trial Attorney Chris Madel to lead an investigation into the allegations.

The Vikings released a statement last month denying the claims and stated that the report would be evaluated by the Littler Mendelson P.C law firm to provide counsel to the team:

After the Vikings were given the investigative materials from Magnuson and Madel, in order to further maintain objectivity and integrity, the team engaged a nationally-prominent law firm - Littler Mendelson P.C. - to evaluate employment law matters and provide findings and recommendations to the Vikings. Those recommendations are to be provided to the team this week.

Kluwe responded by saying he would consider dropping the suit if the team releases the report to the public. Kluwe’s attorney stated that the two sides were near a settlement and confirmed that one of the more prominent allegations has been corroborated by the report.

The full terms of the settlement should be revealed after the weekend. Whether the full findings of the Vikings’ investigation will be revealed is still unknown. In the mean time, get caught up with the entire long and complicated saga:

On Jan. 2, 2014, Deadspin published an article written by Kluwe entitled “I was an NFL player until I was fired by a bigot and two cowards.“ The bulk of the article’s allegations focus on Vikings special team coach Mike Priefer, who Kluwe labeled as a bigot. According to Kluwe, Priefer made disparaging remarks about gay people and consistently badgered Kluwe about his activism.

Kluwe recites a specific incident in which he claims Priefer was particularly offensive.

Near the end of November, several teammates and I were walking into a specialist meeting with Coach Priefer. We were laughing over one of the recent articles I had written supporting same-sex marriage rights, and one of my teammates made a joking remark about me leading the Pride parade. As we sat down in our chairs, Mike Priefer, in one of the meanest voices I can ever recall hearing, said: “We should round up all the gays, send them to an island, and then nuke it until it glows.” The room grew intensely quiet, and none of the players said a word for the rest of the meeting.

Vikings special teams coach Mike Priefer and then-head coach Leslie Frazier in 2013
Photo credit: Harry Engels/Getty Images

Kluwe insists he was released not for his lack of punting ability -- his 2012 stats were in line with his solid career averages -- but because Priefer “didn’t agree with the cause [Kluwe] was working for.”

Priefer immediately denied the allegations. “I do not tolerate discrimination of any type and am respectful of all individuals,” he said in a statement, adding that he has gay family members.

Kluwe rebuffed Priefer’s denial while speaking with Outsports on Jan. 3.

It’s the old I-have-a-black-friend-so-I’m-not-racist argument. My guess is he talked to a lawyer and the lawyer said to put it out there in strong terms. For me, I have witnesses who were there and saw it happen. It’s nothing I would have said if I couldn’t prove it.

The Vikings released their own statement on Jan. 2 defending Kluwe’s release as a football decision.

Any notion that Chris was released from our football team due to his stance on marriage equality is entirely inaccurate and inconsistent with team policy. Chris was released strictly based on his football performance.

The Vikings have been adamant that Kluwe was released for football reasons only. Kluwe stated in his Deadspin report that his punting average was not poor enough to warrant his firing.

In 2012, Kluwe had a gross average distance of 45 yards per punt, ranking him 25th among 40 NFL punters. That was the second highest average of his career, the highest being 45.7 the previous season.

But there’s more to punting than distance, especially in this case. According to Kluwe, he was asked by Pfiefer during the 2012 season to make his kicks higher and shorter to relieve pressure on the Vikings’ struggling punt return unit and “to force fair catches as much as possible.” In that regard, Kluwe struggled. He had just 12 fair catches, fourth worst among players with at least 50 punts (though it could be argued that the struggling return team he was aiming to help played a role in that).

In the end, however, a punter’s job is to switch field position. Kluwe had a net average of 49.7 yards per punt, putting him just below the exact midpoint of NFL punters that season.

Kluwe has had multiple tryouts with other teams since his release, but has not been signed.