Michael Sam: Report that Rams drafted him to avoid Hard Knocks ‘makes sense’

Michael Sam already admitted that he wasn’t surprised by the report that the St. Louis Rams drafted him as part of a deal with the league to avoid appearing on “Hard Knocks,” and he elaborated on that on Thursday.

Sam told the Dan Patrick Show that in light of the report, a lot of things made sense.

“Not surprised that the NFL had a deal with the Rams,” Sam said. “Makes sense to me why they cut me and not Ethan Westbrooks even though I out preformed him in our production. Makes sense why Coach Fisher was very vague the day he cut me from the team.”

Westbrooks, according to the original report, was the player the Rams preferred at Sam’s position and signed as an undrafted free agent, ultimately cutting Sam instead of Westbrooks.

The reporter who shared the story originally, Howard Balzer, stood by his original report despite denials by Jeff Fisher and the league.

“The denials are not surprising,” Balzer wrote. “The Rams’ choices were to acknowledge the report was accurate, which wasn’t going to happen; say nothing, which would be a tacit admission; or deny, deny, deny. And that’s what they did.”

Balzer also cited the fact that the Rams made no effort to sign Sam to their practice squad despite a good preseason as further evidence that they never wanted him in the first place.

For all their trouble – and the PR hit that could be following as a result of this report – the Rams only avoided Hard Knocks for one year, too.