| No. 4 Minnesota Vikings | |
| Punter | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Date of birth: December 24, 1981 | |
| Place of birth: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | |
| Height: 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | Weight: 215 lb (98 kg) |
| Career information | |
| College: UCLA | |
| Undrafted in 2005 | |
| Debuted in 2005 for the Minnesota Vikings | |
| Career history | |
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| Career highlights and awards | |
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| Career NFL statistics as of Week 17, 2011 | |
| Punts | 551 |
| Punt Yards | 24,446 |
| Punting Yard Average | 44.4 |
| Stats at NFL.com | |
Christopher James "Chris" Kluwe (pronounced /ˈkluːi/; born December 24, 1981 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is a punter for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League. He was originally signed by the Seattle Seahawks, as an undrafted free agent in 2005. He played college football at UCLA.
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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 also made the USA Today first-team All-American as a punter. Once he kicked an Orange County and CIF Playoff record 60-yard field goal vs. Loyola to force overtime in an eventual 30-23 victory. Averaged 46.6 yards as a punter, had 10 punts of at least 60 yards and placed six kicks inside the 10-yard line. As a place kicker, 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 hang time. As a junior, he averaged 44.8 yards per punt, 25 of his 27 punts were either fair catches or returned for fewer than five yards, 16 punts were downed inside the 20 yard-line and eight punts pinned the opposition inside the 10 yard-line. Kluwe also played a year of baseball as a pitcher for coach Rob Wigod.
Kluwe developed into one of the top punters in the Pac-10 playing for UCLA. He used his strong leg to break two school records (Punt Yardage and Number of Punts in a season). In his senior year, he ranked 4th in the Pac-10 and 26th in the NCAA in Yards per Punt (42.9). In 2004 he punted 10 times against Illinois, one shy of the school single-game record, and averaged 37.9 yards with three kicks inside the 20-yard line. He was selected Special Teams Player of the Game in the Silicon Valley Football Classic against Fresno State after averaging 44.3 yards on nine kicks and he tied the bowl record with his nine punts and placed three kicks inside the 20-yard line.
Varsity Stats at UCLA
| Year | Punts | Yards | Average | In 20 | Long |
| 2001 | 1 | 25 | 25.0 | 0 | 25 |
| 2002 | 1 | 44 | 44.0 | 0 | 44 |
| 2003 | 91 | 3908 | 42.9 | 19 | 66 |
| Totals | 93 | 3977 | 42.8 | 19 | 66 |
Chris Kluwe was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Seattle Seahawks. He was released by the Seahawks for the final roster cutdown and was picked up the next day by the Vikings. Chris became one of the most surprising pickups for the Vikings, finishing the season with an average of 44.1 yards per punt, ranking second in the NFC and sixth in the league. Minnesota had to call on him 71 times during the season, and Kluwe's ability to pin opposing offenses deep in their own territory has helped the Vikings' defense.
During a week-13 game in Detroit, Lions safety Vernon Fox dove towards Kluwe during a punt and collided with his plant foot. Tests showed Kluwe had a sprained ankle and would be out for 1–2 weeks. Kicker Paul Edinger was the punter for the remainder of the game, but a few days later the Vikings signed the 42-year old veteran Darren Bennett temporarily until Kluwe's ankle had healed. Bennett was the Vikings' punter in the 2004 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.[1]
In 2011 Kluwe changed his jersey number to #4 when the Vikings acquired quarterback Donovan McNabb. McNabb previously wore the number #5 for the Washington Redskins and Philadelphia Eagles, and assumed the number when he arrived in Minnesota. Kluwe took up the number which was previously worn by quarterback Brett Favre in 2009 and 2010.
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 names,[2] Peyton Manning, Drew Brees, Vincent Jackson, and Logan Mankins. Kluwe tweeted his frustration at this impasse, assailing their greed and calling them "douchebags".[3]
After Nate Jackson wrote an article for the sport website Deadspin, excoriating Kluwe for talking "out of turn",[4] 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".[5]
Kluwe is also well known as an avid Guitar Hero 2 player, having once made an appearance on Minnesota's 93X radio station while playing the game with Andy McNamara from Game Informer magazine.[6] He is also a frequent guest on Minnesota sports station KFAN for "Video Games Weekly" on Wednesday nights. During a KFAN interview on the PA and Dubay show, he admitted he was not very good at sports games.
Chris has also immersed himself into the MMORPG World of Warcraft, having earned over 8000 achievement points.[7] Kluwe plays a troll rogue named Loate[8] and has been a member of one of the formerly top-ranked US guilds, The Flying Hellfish, for over two years.[9]
In addition to his full time job as punter for the Vikings, Kluwe is the bassist for the local Minneapolis Alternative/Progressive Rock band, Tripping Icarus. Chris formed the band in 2009 with his friends Andrew Reiner (guitar) and Matthew Marshall (drums), and later recruited Jesse Revel to join on lead vocals. Tripping Icarus recorded their debut EP, The Sideshow Sessions, in the summer of 2009. A year later, they recorded their first full length LP, Perfect Citizen, which is slated for an early 2011 release.[10] When Donovan McNabb was traded to Minnesota prior to the 2011 season, Kluwe offered McNabb the number 5 jersey in exchange for mentioning Tripping Icarus in at least 5 press conferences, as well as donating $5,000 to Kluwe's charity.[11] However, McNabb only mentioned the band twice, and still has yet to donate to the charity.[12]
Kluwe and his wife Isabel had their first child in July 2008, and their second in 2010.
Kluwe also talks almost every week in the sports section of "The Half-Assed Morning Show" a radio show in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul radio station KXXR "93X" in which he is called "Chris Warcraft", he often talks about Minnesota Vikings locker room situations, video games or his Rock Band Tripping Icarus.
One particular segment of the show involved a wager with Nick, a vocal talent of the morning show. The wager consisted of Nick challenging that the Minnesota Vikings would lose their upcoming game to the Green Bay Packers. Kluwe agreed that if the Minnesota Vikings lost, he would apply a temporary tattoo of the radio station on his left bicep and display it on television for the following game. Kluwe claims to have followed through on the bet, however the tattoo was not clearly visible. Kluwe still fears a potential fine from the National Football League.
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Darren Bennett |
Minnesota Vikings Punters 2005–present |
Succeeded by Incumbent |