The first openly gay player to be drafted by an NFL team has been released.
Rookie defensive end Michael Sam was cut by the St. Louis Rams on Saturday, ESPN reported. A league source told the sports network that the team hopes to bring Sam back on their practice squad.
Sam may still be picked up by another team.
ESPN was recently criticized for reporting on whether Sam showered around his teammates as part of a segment on how the rookie was fitting in with the team. The sports network later said it “regrets” that discussion.
A more accurate and in-context way of reporting this would be to say that Michael Sam was “among those cut” from the team’s starting lineup of active players. I’m sure he was not the ONLY one cut, and not the ONLY one to be cut from among the many teams. It may be significant that Michael is “the first openly gay player to be drafted by an NFL team”, but he is not the only player cut.
Michael Sam will be on an NFL roster this year; he showed during pre-season that he is too talented not to be.
I hope so. He has a lot of courage and a lot of heart.
I hope the Giants pick him up. Their pass rush was terrible last year.
Absolutely correct. The Rams are very deep at the positions he plays, and he just was not as good as the other guys. I expect him to be picked up by another team though, maybe not as a starter, but you never know.
Bottom line is that he just is not star material. Big difference between college and pro game. How many Heisman winners have been total busts in the NFL? Lots. So him being Defensive Player of the Year in the SEC has zero relevance to being a star in the NFL, and it’s no surprise he was cut considering the depth the Rams have for pass rushers.
Like to see him be picked up by another team, we’ll see. But whether a team picks him up or not has nothing to do with him being gay. They want to win. In fact, it might work to his benefit, some team with poor attendance just might take him to generate some interest (his Jersey sales might be quite good). But I suspect that a team will take him because he fits in as a player. Like to see it happen, but we’ll see.