Michael Sam’s winding road to the NFL

The first openly gay player to contend for a place in the National Football League has had a rough go of things. Many message boards on the internet are quick to dismiss him, declaring the media coverage to be overboard for a lackluster player. But there’s no denying the impact that Michael Sam has had on the LGBT community. Finally, a highly visible gay man is playing professional sports, creating a beacon of hope for LGBT youth, closeted & out athletes, and LGBT people at large. As to whether or not he is a “lackluster player,” it’s important to remember that Sam has many achievements under his belt that should make him a highly prized rookie. Let’s look at the positive stats:

• Two consecutive SEC Defensive Player of the Week Awards
• SEC Co-Defensive Player of the Year
  • The first recipient of this award to not make a  NFL roster
• Named a first-team All-American by the Walter Camp Football Foundation, Associated Press, Sporting News, the American Football Coaches Association, and the Football Writers Association of America.
• In four NFL pre-season exhibition games, Sam had 11 tackles and three sacks, including a team-leading six tackles in the final game

And the negative stats:

• A disappointing performance in the NFL Scouting Combine in February 2014.
• His performance at a public practice showed marked improvement, but his ranking among other defensive ends dropped from 12th to 25th
• He is viewed as too small to play defensive end and too slow to play outside linebacker

Sam was drafted by the St. Louis Rams in the 7th round picks, and was recently released from the roster when the team needed to make final round cuts. Over the weekend, the other NFL teams had the options to pick Sam up, but it seemed like no one was interested. Speculation arose over the possible homophobia behind the decisions to leave Sam a free agent. Others pointed to the negative stats, stating Sam was a mediocre player at best.

  The Dallas Cowboys announced Sam’s signing on Sept. 2, and assigned him to their practice squad.

“This is about football. We evaluated him as a football player,” Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said. “We just want to give him a chance to come in and see if he can help our football team.”

After answering a few more questions from reporters regarding the matter, Garrett said, “We need to be careful about spending too much time on a practice squad player.”

Sam thanked the Cowboys over Twitter:

Whether or not homophobia did play into Sam’s career depends on who you ask, but for now, Sam continues to pioneer being openly gay in the NFL. His courage and determination catapult Sam into one of the nation’s top role models for the LGBT community.