Michael Sam: There are ‘a lot’ of gay players in the NFL

Michael Sam became the first openly gay player to be drafted by an NFL team last year, and he is still working toward his goal of playing in the NFL. Should a team sign Sam before the 2015 season, he insists he will not be the only gay player on an NFL roster.

During an interview with Charean Williams of The Star-Telegram on Thursday, Sam said there are “a lot” of gay players currently playing in the NFL.

“I am not the only gay person in the NFL,” Sam said. “I’m just saying there is a lot of us. I respect the players that did reach out to me and had the courage to tell me that they were also gay, but they do not have the same courage as I do to come out before I even played a down in the NFL.”

In my opinion, there is a big difference between not having the “courage” to come out and choosing to keep your personal affairs to yourself. Just as some players will never discuss their family life, others may choose to not discuss their sexual orientation.

Sam implied that there are some well-known players who are gay.

“The players who have reached out to me and told me about their sexual orientation, it just means a lot,” he said. “But I will never say anything about who they are, what teams they are [on]. I’m just saying there’s some famous people, and I’m not the only one.”

Sam had stints with the St. Louis Rams and Dallas Cowboys but was ultimately released by both teams, never appearing in a regular season NFL game. While he has implied in the past that he is not on an NFL roster because of his sexual preference, he seems to have changed his mind.

“Hopefully I’m not being discriminated [against] because I’m gay,” Sam said. “I don’t believe that I’m being discriminated [against] because I’m gay. I just want to know if I’m truly not in the NFL, it’s because of talent. Let it be because of my talents. But you’ve got to prove that I can’t play this game. If you look at the film, clearly I can. So, I’ll leave it at that.”

One NFL agent reportedly described Sam’s performance at the NFL Veteran Combine last weekend as “flat out horrible.” His 40-yard dash time of 4.99 seconds was slower than Sam ran as a rookie. That is never a good sign.

We know there are plenty of current NFL players who say they would not have a problem with a gay teammate. There are also others — like this former Cowboys receiver — who are clearly not ready for it. That doesn’t mean those who have yet to come out lack “courage.” Sam, of all people, should be sensitive to that.

H/T Eye on Football