Michael Sam’s first shot to play in a regular season professional football game should have been in the National Football League – not the Canadian Football League.
The 2013 SEC co-defensive player of the year didn’t enter the 2014 NFL Combine as the biggest, strongest or fastest defensive line prospect. All he did was turn in the best season by a defensive end in the nation.
That alone should have gotten him selected much higher in the 2014 NFL Draft. The St. Louis Rams picked him in the last round as the 249th of 256 total players drafted. After a preseason that saw him register three sacks, 10 solo tackles and one assisted tackle, the Rams released him.
SB Nation’s Cyd Zeigler reported last November that 90 percent of players with Sam’s preseason statistics – regardless of when they happened in games – were on a NFL roster.
Rams head coach Jeff Fisher called it “a football decision.” The overwhelming majority of St. Louis media members accepted that nonsense like it actually made sense.
Fisher and the Rams front office’s “football decisions” have helped the team accomplish very little since his arrival three seasons ago. The team is 20-27 and has failed to make the playoffs; the Rams ranked 31st in attendance out of 32 teams; Forbes ranks the Rams as the NFL franchise with the lowest value at $930 million.
The Rams have a staunch defensive line that helped lead the NFL in sacks, so maybe the question is, “Why did the Rams draft Sam if it was known he would be cut regardless of his preseason statistics?”
The Dallas Cowboys, a team that was desperate for a pass rusher, added Sam to its practice squad in September. However, he never got a chance to play in a regular season game before he was released in late October.
The Cowboys never developed a decent pass rush from its defensive line during the 2014 season, finishing 28th out of 32 teams with 1.8 sacks per game. Its defense finished 24th, but the Cowboys had no use for Michael Sam.
After the Cowboys released Sam, his preseason statistics mysteriously vanished from NFL.com, SB Nation also reported.
So the NFL didn’t give him a chance to show what he could do in a real game. Now the CFL is giving him that opportunity, but it is up to him to make it work.
Warren Moon led the Washington Huskies to the 1978 Rose Bowl title. He had the arm strength, the build and the intelligence to win in the NFL at quarterback. It was somehow determined by NFL experts that he was not talented enough to play in the NFL.
Five CFL championships later, Moon finally got a shot at the NFL and he became a first-ballot Hall of Famer. Did I mention Moon is black?
Did I mention that Sam came out last year before the NFL draft, telling the world that he is gay?
Former NFL head coach Tony Dungy said he would not have drafted Sam because he would be a distraction. He caught a whole lot of flak – some of it from the same people who let the Rams’ and Cowboys’ decisions to release Sam go unchallenged.
TMZ Sports reported last week that one of Sam’s Montreal Alouettes teammates said anonymously that Sam is “not my favorite teammate right now.”
Another player without the guts to put his name with his words said, “He needs to leave his personal life off the field and just play football like he really wants it. Hopefully he can turn it around and commit to the game, because he really does have potential.”
Sam brought this on himself by leaving the team for two weeks for undisclosed personal reasons. Naturally, the world assumes he left for some type of homosexual relationship drama. That sells better than it being a family matter, doesn’t it?
The Alouettes are 1-1 following a surprise 29-17 win over the defending CFL champion Calgary Stampeders on July 3.
Sam has yet to play a down this season, but should see his first action on Friday, July 10 when Montreal plays at Winnipeg.
It’s not the NFL, but it’s put-up-or-shut-up time for Michael Sam. He can begin to prove he could be another Warren Moon – or he could let the Rams, Cowboys and all the haters have the last laugh.
He has the opportunity. He has to make the most of it.
