During an hour-long interview with The Baltimore Sun early Friday morning, former Ravens linebacker and special-teams ace Brendon Ayanbadejo emphasized that he doesn't believe he was cut from the Super Bowl champions' roster because of his strong advocacy for same-sex marriage and gay rights.
Ayanbadejo indicated that he understands and accepts the decision, praising the Ravens for their support of him being an outspoken voice for gay causes. He distanced himself from his interview Thursday night with Newsday at a Straight for Equality Gala in New York where he was honored along with Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe, where he seemed to suggest that his beliefs were one of the reasons that he was released earlier that day.
"The Ravens have been backing me, they knew my stance for years and have been facilitating me and organizing me with LGBT and set me up with Equality Maryland. They helped me," said Ayanbadejo, who was due a $940,000 base salary this year entering the second year of a three-year, $3.22 million contract. "If they didn't like what I was doing, they would have cut me a long time ago. I'm a special-teams player and you can find somebody to do what I did for less than half that value. They can find someone to do the same job. I was the most productive player on special teams and the only linebacker who played in every single game. I'm not saying I didn't bring any value. What I was saying about my bark is louder than my bite is I was talking more that I was productive and it makes you expendable.
"No team wants any situation to be bigger than football. I think equality rights is inherently bigger than football, but in no way was I a distraction for my team. It was a balancing act. I was there to play football. I was also there to promote positive issues, things bigger than football. The NFL doesn't really want that. I was saying the NFL as a whole organization, not just the Ravens. The NFL isn't talking about politics, immigration policies, war and AIDS. The NFL doesn't touch those things. The NFL keeps it safe, talking about charities for kids and those less fortunate, cancer, stuff like that. I was touching on issues bigger than football. I think the Ravens think I'm mad at them, but I'm absolutely not. I love the Ravens. When I say my bark was louder than my bite, I'm saying I'm not the player I once was and the Ravens did the right thing. They were justified. I have no problem with them at all."
Hours earlier, Ayanbadejo's remarks had created a stir on the Internet.
"My bark is louder than my bite," Ayanbadejo told Newsday before taking to his Twitter account to clarify his comments. "I make a lot of noise and garner a lot of attention for various things off the football field. When that starts happening, why do you have that player around? I don't necessarily think that teams want this type of attention."
Ayanbadejo turns 37 in September and is coming off a season where he had 14 special-teams tackles to lead the team. However, he had no special-teams tackles in the playoffs as the Ravens allowed a pair of touchdown returns to Denver Broncos speedster Trindon Holliday in an AFC divisional-round road victory.
The Ravens expressed surprise over Ayanbadejo's initial statements on his departure from the team, which appears to be an amicable parting.
"We're surprised that he would indicate this. We have always been respectful of Brendon's opinions and his right to express those," Ravens senior vice president of public and community relations Kevin Byrne told The Sun. "Our decision regarding his departure from the team has everything to do with football. Nothing else."
Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/04/05/3326013/ayanbadejo-says-four-nfl-players.html
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