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

I think he's trying to say that if he was a 4th round talent, there's no way everyone would have passed on him in the sixth round because he'd be a steal, and someone else would jump on it.

 

I just think if he's a fourth-round talent, and there's nothing else involved, he gets picked in the ... wait for it ...

 

I really like this piece from Bill Barnwell.

http://grantland.com/features/nfl-draft-michael-sam-gay-trades/

I particularly liked this assessment:

 

I'd read that piece earlier. It's just chock full of good points.

 

If people have a problem with him being drafted and then getting cut, especially with all the evidence we have about his skill set, then they're saying it is indeed impossible to be both gay AND mediocre.

 

Except nothing other than his SEC DPOY indicated that he was a fourth-round talent. His combine was not good. And it wasn't like he was early-round material before the combine or his coming out.

The easiest thing for casuals to do -- particularly those whose interest in the draft rose exponentially or only exists at all because of the potential for an openly gay draft pick -- is to say "well, 31 teams had a chance to make history but chickened out." And while it's not likely that his orientation had no indirect or even direct impact on a particular team's decision making, that's a gross oversimplification.

 

And 9 of Sam's 11.5 sacks and 9 of his 19 TFLs came in 3 games: Arkansas State, Vanderbilt and Florida.

He also had a big game against South Carolina (3 TFLs, 1 sack), but in four of Mizzou's five biggest games: Georgia and the stretch run of Texas A&M, Ole Miss and Auburn, he was pretty average.

 

The point is if he was truly a 4th round talent someone - other than a team with extra picks who really didn't need him and seemed to want to make a statement based on the head coaches own quotes, would have grabbed him and known they got a steal.

And his assertion that he should have been picked higher is a joke. Maybe instead of going and doing the talk show circuit after the season he should have worked out a little so he didn't produce embarrassingly bad combine results.....

Nah, can't be that, this is the new America where everyone has an excuse and everyone else is to blame....

 

What's funny is the way Goodell gave pretty much every 1st-rounder a massive bear hug.

 

Agreed. Not only was it unfair to the other teams in the league for him to say that, it was foolish on his part. He is no sure thing to make the Rams and if not this year, it may not be long before he is hoping some other NFL team will pick him up. I'm guessing he didn't win those folks over with that comment.

And any team that uses a pick to make history rather than to make itself better is run by idiots.

 

Translation: It has opinions that you agree with, so you like it.

 

Is that the real stat? So 10 of his TFLs came in the other games? I mean, that's pretty good. And the South Carolina line ... South Carolina was a top-10 team and the best team they played other than Auburn. It's kind of weird to just dismiss that one, right?

Also there was this to seal the Cotton Bowl:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJqdZZGjJZE

People are really jimmying stats around now to say that not only was he a less-than-stellar NFL prospect, but he wasn't a very good college player either. And that's ridiculous.