have we forgotten about michael sam?
i haven’t forgotten about his bunz in trouser pants,
but it seems that the nfl used him.
duh.
i don’t think the following scandal will make you “gasp”,
but this is what the rams allegedly did to michael…
On Wednesday, the Rams were named the subject of this year’s edition of “Hard Knocks,” the HBO show that takes you inside training camp with an NFL team, but according to a tweet from veteran NFL journalist Howard Balzer, they could have been in the show two years earlier were it not for a behind-the-scenes deal with the NFL.
Balzer, citing “sources,” tweeted Wednesday that the Rams avoided the 2014 edition of “Hard Knocks” because of their decision to select Michael Sam, the first openly gay player to declare for the NFL draft, in the seventh round that year.
“Sources say NFL agreed not to have Rams on Hard Knocks in 2014 if they drafted Michael Sam,” Balzer tweeted.
Balzer clarified the tweet several hours later, stressing that it was a predraft arrangement between the league and team to save face and insure that the first openly gay player to declare for the NFL draft did not go undrafted.
“That’s correct,” he tweeted. “Rams didn’t want Hard Knocks even without Sam. League concerned he wouldn’t be drafted. Deal made.”
Neither the NFL nor the Rams responded to emails for comment. But none of this shocked Sam. Sam, who has been out of the NFL since October 2014 and is currently under contract with the Montreal Allouettes of the CFL, retweeted Balzer to make that point:
If true, the report paints a highly questionable picture of Goodell as a commissioner who essentially manipulated the back end of the NFL draft. And it paints the picture of a league desperate to avoid a PR nightmare in 2014.
Entering the 2014 NFL draft, Sam was widely considered a fringe prospect, with little buzz. After his public announcement, his draft stock seemed all over the board, with some analysts pointing to his status as SEC defensive player of the year and pegging him as a fourth-round pick.
Others, though, noted his slow 40-yard dash time (4.91 seconds at the NFL Scouting Combine), lack of pass rush moves, and tweener size (261 pounds) and suggested he was a late-round pick at best, undrafted at worst. The baggage he carried seemed destined to torpedo his stock even further.
“You have the theory, which is the right theory, which is what every official is going to say,” one NFL agent said at the time. “And then you also have the reality. How is it going to affect my team chemistry? That is the unspoken analysis that is going to take place in every war room.”
According to Balzer, that set the stage for the Rams to serve as the league’s safety net. The Rams drafted Sam with the 249th overall pick, just seven picks before the end of the final round of the draft.
Sam did not last long with the Rams, either, failing to make the final 53-man roster just before the start of the regular season.
He was beaten out by another defensive lineman, undrafted Ethan Westbrooks, supposedly because Westbrooks could play multiple positions while Sam was strictly an undersized defensive end.
Even after Sam cleared waivers, the Rams had so little interest that they did not add him to their practice squad. The Dallas Cowboys signed Sam to their practice squad in early September only to cut him the following month.
Sam has not played in the NFL since, although he tried unsuccessfully to rekindle interest from the league at last year’s NFL Veteran Combine, where he clocked a 4.99-second 40-yard dash.
….are we shocked?
i’m not.
this is all the reason why he should have waited.
his “announcement” overshadowed his talent.
everyone wanted a piece of michael sam.
remember that documentary with oprah?
now he is used up and thrown back to the dark forests.
i feel any gay baller wolves will avoid coming out until later.
either after they help win a superbowl or when they retire.
shame.
i’m sure the nfl is drafting up a nice pr statement as you read this. as always,
thanks to my news f-bi for keeping me in the loop.
article taken: the new york daily news
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i feel you all are harsh on Sam..no wonder why black men stay closeted Jesus Christ our community has issues already accepting us, but why in the gay community when someone shares their truth people always want to paint it as a publicity stunt? Sometimes people just get tired of living a lie and want to live the truth…and honestly many DL men have many insecurities and issues they have to deal with to ‘maintain’ images and remain on the DL. Being DL and being discreet are NOT the same. Being discreet means you know who you are you’re not yelling it from the rooftops where being DL is usually most men want to still identify as straight why engaging in homosexual behavior while still being in straight relationships and since returning back to Philly to live after college I’m concerned with how many people are in denial about who they are. I salute Michael Sam, although much like every other player in the league, straight or gay, he was exploited. For every one Lebron or Odell there are thousands of brothas who NEVER have a successful career in sports..its the nature of the beast
Regardless of how you feel about Sam, his success or failure as a Gay Black man should be of importance to all of us. I don’t give a damn about the talk of the white lgbt community using him! Michael Sam was done a disservice by the NFL period end of story!
He’s pathetic to me. Always has been. I knew from jump he was allowing these white gays to use him. Whites love a black man they know they can use and his white savior complex made it too easy.
Anyone that cared about his career long term would’ve advised him to do the opposite of everything he did.
The white lgbt community has no use for him now and sports fan can care less about “the first openly gay player in the nfl” when he never played in a game lol.
Who’s going to pay him 5-10k to speak at these imaginary gay fundraising dinners? He has no receipts or clout.
Right, I have hollered at this 5-10K fantasy speaking tour that must be overseas somewhere. He would be wise to wash out his thong and start dancing at these white gay circuit parties in Miami and other gay friendly pride celebrations across the country, now he could clean up doing that and fulfill these little white twinks fantasy of the Big Black Mandingo football player, or he can get his personal training license and put that to good use like the rest of these football players who did not make the big leagues. If white gays are pushing you to do something you better run the other way because it will never work out in your favor.
Sam is about to be invited to speak at every rich gay fundraising dinner in the country at $5-10,000 per plus expenses. He is making far more loot than he would have if he had been cut and closeted. Quick. Name another draftee from 2014 who was cut and isn’t working at Burger King today. Get yours, Michael. Haters gonna hate. But as long as they hate online and spell your name right, it’s ALL good.
If I remember correctly, it was already known in many circles that Sam was gay. A journalist was threatening to OUT him pre-draft…so Sam took matters into his own hands.
Unfortunately he sought help from the wrong people, who, in my opinion, were more concerned about making headlines. This was a big deal publicity wise for the movement (gay rights n shit and sports blah blah blah)…and Sam was the vessel.
He got used, and they left him high and dry. The gay movement was literally (and still is) DESPERATE for someone to come out in professional sports, and Sam was the perfect medium. Or so they thought….
I don’t think Sam is/was smart enough to orchestrate that entire nonsense a few years ago. He just went along for the ride..and ultimately got burned in the end.
Shame.
If he is smart he would lawyer up and say the NFL used him and then let go because of his sexual orientation…sounds like discrimination and given how much is in the media he would win at least a settlement
^sounds like a GREAT idea…
get some money out this ordeal.
he won’t be able to play ball again tho.
Right, only way he’ll see NFL $
Who needs to play ball when he can get enough to own a team. They have impacted his ability to work in his field
He aint getting nothing from the NFL. Might as well keep it moving, no need to beat a dead horse. Or let one really ruin what’s left of your life.
He should have waited to come out until when? Based on the fact that no current player has come out.I guess he should have waited until he retired or was out of the league to come out. I don’t blame him because none of the other gay players in the NFL have come out.They had an opportunity to come out before we ever heard of a Michael Sam,two years ago.They have their reasons but I really doubt they would have come out even if he was in the league.I believe he would have been like Jason Collins,the only one.
I have a question why don’t teams want to do Hard Knocks? Why would the NFL say take him and you don’t have to the show this year.Then turnaround and make them do the show a couple years later.
^he came out and where is he now?
he isn’t exactly playing on a team at this moment.
he did get far on dancing with the stars.
he didn’t prove himself as a good player.
his whole “coming out” was a publicity tour that failed him.
He already said he regretted the way he came out.He said that in 2014.We don’t know what he would have accomplished if he hadn’t come out.There is no guarantee he would be in the league if he was still in the closet.On the good side he made history as the first openly gay player in the NFL.On the bad side a team had to be coerced into drafting him.He said he could tell the Rams didn’t want him there but he felt welcomed by the Cowboys.
Usually I’m with you YC, but I’m not seeing the benefit of Michael Sam being the first openly gay player. Maybe it’s helped someone, but overall, I feel like he’s done more harm than good, and not only for the gay community, but most importantly for himself. Even if he did this coming out thing solely for himself, he didn’t get his investment of return. It was bad timing, and overall a bad decision. To answer your original question, yes, it probably would have been a lot smarter to “come out” after he retired because he would have nothing to lose. Perhaps he could have just came out to his team, but not made it public, if he was going to come out at all. “Coming out” is glorified and fantasized by the media by making it seem like this great “liberating” experience, but continuously fails to mention how complex the decision of “coming out” is, and the fact that sometimes coming out is more oppressive than being closeted and even if it’s necessary in some cases. To be honest, his sexuality (as it pertains to his football career) is irrelevant, and he should have tried to leave that separate from his career. If you’re going to be the “first this” or “first that” PROVE YOURSELF first! Be someone noteworthy, and THEN talk about your hardships and dispositions with the platform and respect you’ve garnered over your career. In Michael Sam’s case, the decision to come out was ALWAYS a business decision, NOT a personal one, whether he knows that or not.
I’ve always said he shoulda listen to his father and got drafted to a team. Even if he wasn’t gonna be a 1st or 2nd round pick, hell bench warm your ass off and get them coins. And when your career was over then, bust them doors off the closet like a drag queen from Rupaul’s Drag Race. That little white boy who thought that he was gonna be an NFL First Lady, got gone when he realize he wasn’t gonna have his own black card, didn’t he. Hell he shoulda just keep his mouth closed, got on a team and fucked other NFL players. Win/Win! But no, that was too much like right. Now his ass is unemployed and broke. Hell he couldn’t even make it in arena football or the Canadian League.