We now have proof and a name of one closeted gay NFL player...

In what has to be a nightmare for the Religious Right faction of the National Religion, SB Nation's Outsports blog had an interview posted on the 20th with an ex-NFL player who was closeted gay.

Worse yet for the Religious Right and the No F_____s League, he was once a New England Patriot.

Many people who slammed the league for blackballing Michael Sam said, as one of their defenses, that there had been closeted-gay players in the National Football League.

With this interview, many people met one.

Ryan O' Callaghan, serviceable four-year NFL career for the Patriots and Chiefs, a largely-reserve offensive tackle.
2006 and 2007 with the Patriots, 2009 and 2010 with the Chiefs.  He was on the 18-1 Patriots, played 15 games, started only one that year.

Realized when he was in junior high he was gay, and, being in Republican Redding in Democratic California, also realized immediately he had to closet himself for his own protection!

He actually made the NFL a final goal.  Once he finished his NFL career, he planned to end his life.

Much like Sam, he was a celebrated collegian:  Morris Trophy winner for the then-Pac-10, for the best offensive lineman in the conference that year (2005).  O'Callaghan, the interview points out, takes special pride in that award:  It's not a media award.  It's voted on by the opposing defensive linemen of the conference!

Fifth-round pick of the Patriots in 2006, O'Callaghan was there to win, and, as long as he could show Bill Belichick he could continue the Patriots run, he could keep his secret that was a ticking time bomb on his life just that.

IR for a shoulder in 2008 made him expendable to the Patriots, but his secret was still kept.  He ended up landing in Kansas City.  Started one year, a groin injury IR'd the second year, and the shoulder finished his career.

Addicted to painkillers, he even had the building ready to go to end his life...

To their credit (and probably much to the chagrin of their employers), the people working with him with the Chiefs actually stopped all that.  The head trainer got him in touch with drug counseling, and the counselor had worked with gay NFL players before.

Read the whole article.  It's a story the NFL does not want you to believe, and that's why I"m mentioning it here.