Michael Sam expects “a long and successful career”

Shortly after he was released by the Rams, Michael Sam said he sees today as just a minor setback.
Sam wrote on Twitter that he still believes he’s going to make it in the NFL, even if he didn’t make the Rams’ 53-man roster after today’s final cuts.
“I want to thank the entire Rams organization and the city of St. Louis for giving me this tremendous opportunity and allowing me to show I can play at this level. I look forward to continuing to build on the progress I made here toward a long and successful career,” Sam wrote.
Sam played well enough in the preseason that he has a chance to get picked up on waivers by some other NFL team. If so, he’ll be on a 53-man roster heading into Week One of the NFL season.
If Sam isn’t claimed on waivers, he may be signed to the Rams’ practice squad, or he could end up on another team’s practice squad. So Sam will likely get another opportunity to try to make it in the NFL. Even if he fell short on his first opportunity.

Source: PFT.com
Author: Michael David Smith
Photo: USAToday Sports

Michael Sam: “I’m blessed”

Rams defensive end Michael Sam thinks he’s landed in the right place.
Sam, who became the NFL’s first openly gay player when he was drafted by the Rams on Saturday, was formally introduced at a press conference in St. Louis today. Sam thanked Rams coach Jeff Fisher, owner Stan Kroenke and General Manager Les Snead for bringing him to the team.
“I’m blessed,” Sam said. “I want to thank my head coach, Coach Fisher, and Mr. Kroenke and Mr. Snead, for giving me the opportunity to play here.”
Fisher explained that it won’t be easy for Sam to make the team, noting that the Rams are already strong at defensive end. But Fisher said that “Michael’s value as a football player is off the charts, so he has an opportunity now to compete to try to make our football team.”
As a seventh-round pick, Sam is no lock to make the roster, but he said he believes he has what it takes.
“I’m determined to be great. I want to train hard and try to make the team,” Sam said. “All my focus is on trying to make the team.”
Even if he doesn’t make the Rams’ roster for the regular season, Sam has already become a role model for young people, and he takes that seriously, wanting kids to know that they can be proud of who they are.
“It’s OK to be who you are,” Sam said. “Whether you’re gay, straight, black or white, it’s OK to be comfortable in your own skin.”
Michael Sam looked comfortable in his own skin today, and proud to be a St. Louis Ram.

Source: PFT.com
Author: Michael David Smith
Photo:  USAToday Sports

Rams draft Michael Sam

Michael Sam is the first openly gay player in the history of the National Football League, and he’s a St. Louis Ram.
Sam, who came out as gay after ending his college career as a defensive end at Missouri, was selected by the Rams late in the seventh round, with the 249th overall pick in the 2014 NFL draft.
The Rams made history by welcoming the first openly gay player to the NFL, and by keeping Sam in Missouri, they ensured that he’ll be in front of a supportive fan base.
Sam is a former SEC Defensive Player of the Year, and the NFL will face some criticism from those who believe that Sam’s sexual orientation kept him from being selected until late on the final day of the draft. But it’s more likely that it was Sam’s workout at the Scouting Combine that caused his draft stock to drop: Sam struggled in his workouts, and many personnel people simply didn’t think he had the athletic talent to make it in the NFL.
Whatever the reasons, Sam lasted until the Rams decided to take him late in the draft, and he’ll join one of the best defensive lines in the NFL. He still has to battle just to make the Rams’ roster, but he has earned the opportunity.

Source: PFT.com
Author: Michael David Smith
Photo: USAToday Sports

Sam’s father struggles with his son’s revelation

As much as we’d all like to believe that a person’s decision to come out as gay is a non-issue in 2014, it is.  For some, it’s a very big issue.
Michael Sam already has found that out, based on his own father’s reaction to the news that Sam is gay.  Michael Sam Sr. tells the New York Times that he learned of his son’s sexual orientation last Tuesday, and that Sam Sr. has been struggling with the revelation.
The news came via a three-word text message — “Dad, I’m gay” — received while Sam Sr. was eating at Denny’s.
“I couldn’t eat no more, so I went to Applebee’s to have drinks,” Sam Sr. said.  “I don’t want my grand kids raised in that kind of environment.”
Sam Sr. explained that he’s “old school . . . a man-and-a-woman type of guy.”  To illustrate the point, Sam Sr. said he took one of his older sons to Mexico so that he could lose his virginity.
As the icing on the cake, Sam Sr. said that Hall of Famer Deacon Jones “is turning over in his grave” at the prospect of an openly gay player in the NFL.
And that’s coming from the father of the NFL’s first openly gay player.  We can predict and we can hope and we can wish that there won’t be problems for Michael Sam, but he’s already got a problem in his immediate family.  There surely will be strangers who feel the same way — and who express those views.

Source: PFT.com
Author: Mike Florio
Photo: USA Today Sports