On Monday, Tony Dungy, the former head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Indianapolis Colts, said he would have not selected Michael Sam in the NFL Draft because of potential distractions that could have surfaced due to his sexuality. Today, Rams head coach Jeff Fisher said Sam was not a distraction for the team.
Dungy was put under the spotlight after the comments he made on Monday, but he backtracked and said they were taken out of context. There's no way to determine if Dungy's comments are valid, but a lot of people were said to have overreacted to the opinion of a former head coach whose job it was to deal with players and locker room atmospheres on a daily basis. If he believed Sam's presence on a team would be a distraction, it's simply based on his past experiences with what he has seen.
However, Jeff Fisher told ESPN Radio on Wednesday that Michael Sam, the first openly gay player to be drafted into the NFL, is not a distraction to the St. Louis Rams. The Rams head coach was asked to appear on "Mike & Mike" to respond to Tony Dungy's comments about Sam. Fisher and the Rams selected the defensive end from Missouri in the seventh round of the 2014 NFL Draft. Thus far they've been happy with his presence.
"Let's define distraction" said Fisher, in this ESPN article. "There were a couple extra cameras during the early OTAs, there may have been an extra camera yesterday as the rookies reported and went on the field for the first time, but no, it's not. Mike's a very passionate athlete. He's very focused on trying to make this football team."
When Sam was drafted, Miami Dolphins safety Don Jones tweeted "OMG" and "Horrible" seemingly in response to Sam being drafted and kissing his boyfriend on television upon receiving the news. Jones deleted the tweets and was later fined an undisclosed amount by the Miami Dolphins organization. Additionally, just last week the Minnesota Vikings suspended Mike Priefer, the special teams coach, for three games for making anti-gay remarks. These are examples of the 'distractions' Tony Dungy was referring to; discord and discrimination that would only hurt the cohesion of a locker room if Sam was present for such derogatory actions and comments.
"I have a lot of respect for Coach Dungy, and like everyone in America, everyone is entitled to their own opinions," said Sam, in this USA Today article. "Thank God he wasn't the St. Louis Rams coach," he added with laughter.
You can read more about Tony Dungy's comments and responses from Michael Sam and Jeff Fisher in this Sports Illustrated article.