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This spring, it seemed a surge in gay rights momentum was going to turn tides in the NFL and allow the league to accept an out gay player. Now, some executives think an out player won't exist in the NFL for another three to five years. This new, startling development comes from Bleacher Report's Mike Freeman, who reports the league was close to having multiple players come out last spring.
Rumors ran rampant at the time suggesting "a handful" of NFL players were ready to come out publicly. One gay-rights activist described the time to Freeman as the "the spring of optimism for the NFL and gay rights." As you probably noticed, nothing happened, and now, one league executive guesses, the NFL is probably three to five years away from accepting a gay player. The NFL falls drastically behind the NHL, and even the UFC, in its work accepting gay athletes, despite recent efforts to catch up. But attention given to NBA player Jason Collins (who remains unsigned) coming out on a Sports Illustrated cover, fears of being ostracized by fellow players, and teams getting cold feet before signing and accepting a gay player kept the league from making the leap into the 21st century.