The first openly gay player ever drafted into the NFL wonders, in hindsight of course, whether he ever should have come out at all. Former St. Louis Rams seventh-round pick Michael Sam, the first openly gay player to be drafted into the league, appeared on Fox Sports Live on Monday and wondered aloud whether coming out was the right decision and, further, whether he'd be on an NFL roster right now if it weren't for his openness regarding his sexual orientation.
Sam told the hosts, "it probably would have been better for me if I didn't come out, I would be on a roster."
That's quite the assertion from Sam, but it would be difficult to argue against his logic. While Sam did enter the NFL as something of a tweener, amidst questions of his size and athleticism and concern over whether he'd ever be able to anchor against the run as a 4-3 defensive end or whether he'd ever be agile enough to bend the edge or fast enough to hang with backs and tight ends in coverage as a 3-4 outside linebacker, his ability to get to the quarterback in college had him pegged by many as a mid-round pick - early on in the draft process, at least.
Then, Sam made the decision to announce his sexuality.
Suddenly Sam began to tumble down draft boards, though likely not just because of his sexuality, but because of concern over his reception in an NFL locker room and the media firestorm it would immediately create in whatever market he entered. Despite being the SEC co-Defensive Player of the Year in 2013, and despite leading the Missouri Tigers with 11.5 sacks and 19 tackles-for-loss that year, Sam fell all the way to the seventh round. CBS Sports, who releases a yearly big board ranking of college football's best prospects, had Sam ranked as the No. 90-overall player in February, which would have put him somewhere in the vicinity of the latter portion of the third-round.
Three hours after he announced he was gay, Sam had fallen to No. 160 on CBS's big board.
Of the 73 "Defensive Player of the Year" award winners from any of the Big 5 conferences to reach the NFL since 2000, every single one made an NFL roster their rookie season. Of those 73, only four were drafted lower than Sam. One, current New York Giants linebacker Mark Herzlich, went undrafted due to a bout with cancer.
This isn't all to say that Sam was a surefire NFLer and would have made an impact had he been given the opportunity. There were legitimate concerns over his speed - 4.70 40-yard-dash, a mark that would be considered poor for a much larger player - and his skillset - many players thrive in college but are unable to translate that to the pro game.
But in his short stint with St. Louis, Sam seemed to play well, managing four preseason sacks. That play, combined with his outstanding college production, would seem to have meant a ticket onto an NFL roster for a player who makes his living honing a skill that garners the big bucks in the league - sacking the quarterback.
That wasn't the case though, and now Sam, after a failed CFL stint, is back to square one where his football career is concerned and fans - and the player himself - have no way of knowing just why it is that he never made an NFL roster.
