Speaking with reporters for the first time since kicker Harrison Butker’s remarks in a commencement address sparked national headlines, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and Coach Andy Reid made the case that if the comments had a divisive effect, it wasn’t in a locker room marked by a diversity of backgrounds and viewpoints.

“We’re a microcosm of life here,” Reid said after the Chiefs spent the day engaged in voluntary organized team activities at their facility. “Everybody’s from different areas. We have different religions, different races. We all get along.”

“When you’re in the locker room, there’s a lot of people from a lot of different areas of life, and they have a lot of different views on everything,” Mahomes told reporters, noting that he has gotten to know Butker’s “character” during the seven seasons in which they have been teammates. “And we’re not always going to agree. There’s certain things that [Butker] said that I don’t necessarily agree with, but I understand the person that he is, and he’s trying to do whatever he can to try to lead people in the right direction. And that might not be the same values as I have, but at the same time, I’m going to judge him by the values that he shows every day, and that’s a great person.”

Butker’s comments, delivered this month at Benedictine College, a Catholic liberal arts school in Kansas, incurred widespread backlash. Among his targets for criticism were women in the workforce; the LGBTQ+ community; diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives; and President Biden’s pro-choice stance.

“I think it is you, the women, who have had the most diabolical lies told to you,” Butker, a 28-year-old Georgia native who is entering his eighth season with the Chiefs, said during his address. “… Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world, but I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world. I can tell you that my beautiful wife, Isabelle, would be the first to say that her life truly started when she began living her vocation as a wife and as a mother.”

Elsewhere in his address, Butker said Catholics should feel pride but “not the deadly sin sort of pride that has an entire month dedicated to it.” He described DEI as “tyranny” and alleged some Catholic leaders were “pushing dangerous gender ideologies onto the youth of America.”

Among those distancing themselves from Butker’s comments were the NFL and an order of Benedictine nuns based at the college.

“Instead of promoting unity in our church, our nation and the world, his comments seem to have fostered division,” the sisters of Mount St. Scholastica said in a statement. “We reject a narrow definition of what it means to be Catholic. … We want to be known as an inclusive, welcoming community, embracing Benedictine values that have endured for more than 1,500 years.”

Describing itself as “steadfast in our commitment to inclusion,” the NFL noted last week that Butker “gave a speech in his personal capacity” and that his views did not reflect those of the league. Speaking Wednesday at the NFL owners meetings in Nashville, Commissioner Roger Goodell echoed Reid’s sentiments on the value of bringing together people with differing outlooks.

“We have over 3,000 players,” Goodell said. “We have executives around the league. They have diversity of opinions and thoughts, just like America does. I think that’s something that we treasure. And that’s part of ultimately what makes us as a society better.”

The 66-year-old Reid, who has won three Super Bowls with the Chiefs, said he had not spoken with Butker about his comments.

“I talk to Harrison all the time,” Reid said at a news conference. “I didn’t talk to him about this. I didn’t think I needed to.

“We all respect each other’s opinions, and not necessarily do we go by those, but we respect everybody to have a voice. That’s a great thing about America, man. We’re just a microcosm of that, and my wish is that everybody could kind of follow that.”

Asked what he would say if a woman working in the Chiefs’ organization came to him with concerns about Butker’s remarks, Reid replied, “I don’t think he was speaking ill to women, but he has his opinions, and we all respect that.”

Gesturing to media members, Reid said, “I let you guys in this room, and you have a lot of opinions that I don’t like.”