Courtesy: USA TODAY Sports
Missouri All-American defensive end Michael Sam made it public that he is a gay man and could potentially become the first openly gay player to suit up in an NFL uniform.
But he didn’t come out to be a trail blazer for a host of other players to follow suit.
That might be what happens though.
As of right now, the Associated Press’ SEC Defensive Player of the Year is viewed by draft experts like CBSSports.com’s Dane Brugler as a Day 3 prospect. This was before the announcement was made public. Brugler tweeted this shortly after the story broke on ESPN.com:
“@dpbrugler: I haven’t talked w/ one NFL scout/analyst who thinks Sam is a top-100 guy so if/when he’s available on day 3, this news isn’t the reason why”
And that’s how it should be.
The NFL Draft is a place where the best American football players in the world are selected to participate in a game where only a select ew can cross the white lines and engage in a sixty-minute war that is football. Sam is a talented player and will likely find a landing spot somewhere, but his coming out as gay shouldn’t affect where he is drafted as the NFL, like most employers, is an equal opportunity employer that is performance-based.
You get the job done? You can play.
You don’t?
Courtesy: wrestlingforum.com
Sam went to the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama and this story was starting to heat up. There were rumors everywhere according to multiple reports (ESPN, SB Nation, NFL agents and publicists alike) and he was just going about his business playing the game he loves. Scouts saw the defensive end as a guy who may become a “tweener” in the NFL. A guy who never has one position. A guy who focuses more on making an impact any way he can as opposed to being locked into one position.
Listed as 6-foot-2 and 255 pounds, Sam is too small to play defensive end in a traditional 4-3 scheme. He likely isn’t agile enough to play a 3-4 outside linebacker. But his 2013 season speaks for itself. Leading the SEC, quite possibly the highest-regarded conference in all of college football, with 11.5 sacks and 19 tackles for a loss is no joke considering schools with stalwart defenses like Alabama compete in the same conference. ESPN Scouts Inc. currently ranks the 24-year-old as the 12th-best outside pass rusher in the class and the 16th-ranked defensive end.
A third-fifth round grade seems fair, correct?
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport brings up a great point in this tweet:
“@RapSheet: Exec is encouraged Mizzou team kept Sam’s news private: “Shows he was a respected player, that may be most helpful thing for drafting team.”
Mizzou was 12-2 in 2013, 7-1 in the SEC with their lone loss coming at the hands of Auburn in the SEC Championship Game and won the 78th AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic over the Oklahoma State Cowboys 41-31. In 2012, the Tigers went 5-7 and just 2-6 in the SEC.
Guys like Sam, who were late-blooming players in their college careers, were the main cogs of this machine to resurrect a program that has seen some quality talent play on Sundays — Pittsburgh Steelers defensive tackle Ziggy Hood, San Francisco 49ers outside linebacker/defensive end Aldon Smith and defensive lineman Justin Smith and Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Jeremy Maclin to name a few. His teammates knew he was gay throughout the season and didn’t allow it to become a distraction.
If 18-to-22-year-old student-athletes can contain themselves with someone of another sexual preference in their locker room, why can’t a professional athlete?
There are always going to be those on the defense on Sam, but there will also be those who may not be comfortable around him because of their beliefs, their naive nature or their lack of professionalism. There could be guys like San Francisco 49ers cornerback Chris Culliver who blurt out what’s on their mind and how their anti-gay views can affect the way they act in the locker room. There are numerous other factors that front office personnel in the NFL will have to consider when bringing aboard a guy like Sam.
But the most important issue presented now is the media frenzy that will soon follow.
Think about what “Tebow Mania”, “All in for Week One”, “Lennay Kekua” and the Alex Rodriguez performance-enchancing drug scandal brought to the respective athletes and teams they eventually played for. Tim Tebow is currently a college football analyst for ESPN. Robert Griffin III is the starting quarterback for the Washington Redskins, but there is still a lot of uncertainty surrounding that organization. Manti Te’o had to talk about a fake girlfriend during his preparations for the National Championship against Alabama and leading up to the 2013 NFL Draft. Alex Rodriguez finally gave in this past week and the New York Yankees can finally move past the situation that brought nothing but bad PR.
Sometimes, any press is good press. Michael Sam didn’t want to just make headlines with this announcement, he wanted to move forward with his life and focus on football. But coming out with such a monumental announcement in the sport that is king in America is going to draw national attention to a player who was essentially a one-year wonder in college.
This is just the calm before the storm. The coverage is about to explode more than the attention meteorologists garnered during the two-week period before Super Bowl XLVIII.
