There seems to be a turning of the tide in sports regarding players being more open about their faith. In particular, the NFL featured a number of star players at quarterback for the NFL Playoffs who openly profess their praise of God. No fewer than five of this season’s Playoff starters are open about their faith.
It isn’t just players, either. Ravens coach John Harbaugh openly talks about God and His importance in his life. What was once, and to an extent still frowned upon by television networks, is now in the forefront as stars like C.J. Stroud of the Houston Texans make their presence felt every Sunday.
Recently, NBC came under fire for editing Stroud’s postgame comments after his playoff loss to the Baltimore Ravens, taking the opportunity to remove the Christian signal caller’s praise of God. That story can be seen here. It was a bad look for a network that had already angered fans by throwing almost $100 million at the NFL for exclusive streaming rights of one game on Peacock.
However, the genie is out of the bottle, and the broadcast networks had best prepare themselves for the inevitable as stars such as Stroud, Brock Purdy of the San Francisco 49ers, Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs, and Jalen Hurts of the Philadelphia Eagles are set to leave their mark on the sport for at least the next decade. Perhaps inspired by Stroud, another promising young player in the league talks openly about his faith journey.
Green Bay Packers rookie tight end Tucker Kraft showed serious signs of promise in his rookie season, even catching a touchdown during the Packers playoff loss to the 49ers. Stroud talked Monday about his first season in the league, and Kraft responded with some comments of his own about how his journey compared to the Texan’s star player.
Kraft wrote: “I’m not saying I’m on the same level as CJ, however if a youngster flips on the tv and watches me and decides that maybe someday they want to be just like me; I hope that their dream also brings them closer to our lord and savior. We have imperfections. But we must keep the faith.” It is highly likely that fans will be seeing the budding star tight end for some time as he looks to play an important role in the Green Bay offense. C.J. Stroud reported being praised around the league for his openness but also remarked that he wasn’t doing it for likes or coolness.
Perhaps taking a cue from Tim Tebow, Stroud said: “I’m not doing it to look cool. I’m doing it because that’s what God called me to do.” Even though the Texan’s season ended at the hands of the Baltimore Ravens, Stroud was still effusive in his praise of God and his belief in his mission. He continued: “I’m just gonna lean on Him and I know that this isn’t the end for me. It’s a lot of more football for me to play, and I’m just excited for that. And I’m super blessed with the guys who I lined up with every week this year. And I’m just really thankful to God on how much he’s brought me from – I can go all the way to when I was a kid to college to Week 1 to now. I’ve grown as a person and as a man of God in a lot of different ways. I’m just really blessed for that.”
C.J. Stroud and his fellow Christian quarterbacks are far removed from the ridicule Tim Tebow received for kneeling and praying on the field. The broadcast networks might like the Colin Kaepernick style kneeling more, but the new wave of openly faithful Christian stars in the NFL is refreshing and worth tuning in for.
Watch Stroud speak about his faith here:
Featured image credit: By Tennessee Titans – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfdILA1XCgU (4:37), CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=129251370
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