Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes backed into a corner over Harrison Butker comments

Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker has been under fire in recent weeks after he made a series of controversial statements at the Benedictine College commencement ceremony.

Rather than discussing the challenges of life after college or any number of other valid topics, Butker side-tracked to talk about the role of women in society and expressed some outdated, troubling opinions. Rather than encourage women pursuing higher education to chase their dreams, he encouraged them to become "homemakers." Butker also criticized Pride Month.

It was a bad look all around.

Even the nuns associated with Benedictine College, a small Catholic school in Kansas, disavowed Butker's comments. Clearly the speech was not properly vetted or considered before the ceremony.

Now, Butker's teammates are tasked with answering for his comments. It's the sort of distraction the two-time champs don't need, especially with Rashee Rice facing legal trouble for an offseason car crash and two players recently placed under arrest.

Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes both commented on the subject Wednesday afternoon, dexterously sidestepping the real issues to promote team unity and cancel out the noise.

Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid respond to controversial Harrison Butker speech

Reid's comments surfaced first. He pulled the classic "free speech!" card, saying Butker has a right to his opinion, even if he and the Chiefs don't necessarily agree with it.

"We respect each other's opinions. Not necessarily do we go by those, but we respect everybody to have a voice. That's a great thing about America, man."

The operative word from Reid is "respect" — he's clearly trying to stabilize any potential unrest in the locker room. Coaching at the NFL level is hard. Reid does it as well as anybody, but there are 53 egos to manage and countless fires to put out. Reid is hoping Butker's comments don't spiral into a more serious issue or a major distraction.

Mahomes was on the same page as Reid, citing seven years of friendship and hard work on the football field.

"I've known him for seven years. I judge him by the character he shows every day and that's a good person. ... We're not always going to agree. He said certain things I don't agree with."

Mahomes and Reid are both careful to paint Butker's comments as disagreeable without throwing him under the bus. Now, Butker obviously deserves all the criticism he has received — his comments were embarrassing and ill-conceived — but this is NFL PR management at its finest. When a player contributes at a high level, as Butker does, even grave missteps are swept under the rug.

This won't be the last we hear of this saga, so expect updates in the days to come as more players are asked about Butker's archaic worldview.