Michael Sam Says He Is Gay; May Become First Publicly Gay Player in N.F.L.

It's not a stretch. Green Bay has a lot of FA DL. This guy definitely fits as a pass rusher in a 3-4, which they need, and if this causes him to fall in the draft, Ted Thompson loves getting value when he thinks someone has fallen.

 

On the next episode of Hard Knocks: Dallas Cowboys Training Camp 2014 ...

 

If he falls past the fourth or fifth round, I wouldn't be surprised if a team like the Pats or Niners took him.

Nothing would surpise me at this point. There's no question it will impact his draft stock. That might not be the case if he was a first-round projection, but he's seen as undersized as is.

 

Impact it, yes. But up or down, I'm not so sure.

There's the chance of passing on him for the obvious distraction it may cause. But then there are teams that want the publicity.

And, maybe this is a reach, but what does this say about his character? If I'm a GM, I'm giving this guy a real hard look. It takes a ton of balls to do what he did, and someone like this is probably coming in with a giant chip on his shoulder.

 

I seriously doubt any team covets the publicity that will come with drafting Sam. It will be a major distraction, followed up by the media going to the most religious player on the team and baiting him to say homosexuality is a sin because it says so in the bible.

The majority of the team won't give half a shit about adding a gay player, most teams probably already have gay players, and just because they're not out doesn't mean the players and coaches aren't well-aware of it.

Some teams are better equipped to handle a distraction like this than others, but I would bet a pretty high percentage of teams will completely take Sam off their board.

 

I would love to see the Steelers draft him if he fits the system and is a value pick.

 

The Kerry Rhodes situation makes me think it's possible Sam doesn't get drafted. I would think Goodell would do everything in his power to make sure that doesn't happen, but a lot of us (myself included) thought David Stern would make sure Jason Collins was on an opening day roster.

 

Peter King quotes an anonymous (of course) GM saying exactly that, Mizzou:

http://mmqb.si.com/2014/02/09/michael-sam-monday-morning-quarterback/

 

I don't get the sense that this player is trying to "do" anything other than make an NFL roster.

He was already out to his teammates and coaches. He publicly dated. He outed himself both because of the specific team-building exercise, and because his teammates basically knew anyway. There's no indication that his outing himself was preplanned.

And, while he wasn't out to the rest of the world, it's clear the folks in the NFL knew, and his future teammates and coaches would know. (And, let's not kid ourselves, his pre-draft assessment as a 3rd to 7th rounder -- which is incredibly wide -- already factored this in.)

Being out publicly will help prevent discrimination against him. He won't have to worry about getting bullied, or having a coach spew anti-gay slurs in front of him. Because he's out, people can outwardly support him.

He says he doesn't want to be an activist. (And, if anything, you may find that gay activists will be disappointed with him for this.) He just wants to play football.

He's done the big announcement. He'll do a couple of more interviews, and then he'll say he's done talking about the subject.

It's a smart move on his part. There will be less stress on him. He won't have to worry about anyone else outing him. He won't have to lie to his future teammates.

And, when he's ready to, he will be able to make money off of this. While major brand endorsements will rely more on his playing ability, he will be able to rack up speaking engagements, and will get a book deal when he wants it.

 

Not even the Jaguars?

 

I keep up with college football fairly well and live in SEC country For a million bucks and with three guesses, I wouldn't have said Sam was the conference's defensive player of the year.

My first guess would have been Mosley, the Bama linebacker.

 

LOL.

These guys are so full of shit. The SEC Defensive POY is not a very good player?

And, then it's going to be his fault when he's unhappy with his draft position, which will be do to our prejudice, so, we'll use that as an excuse to not draft him as well.

This is your NFL folks.

For all the folks who demonize the Republican party, or walked away from it out of "principle" because of it's stand on social issues, have fun watching your favorite team on Sunday next fall.

America's most popular sport trumps all.