Last night, after watching the midseason premiere of The Walking Dead, I pulled open my MacBook to find article topics for our esteemed sports writers to tackle this coming week. I started with SI.com. That is where I saw the headline “NFL Prospect Says He’s Gay.”
In a sports world that continues to become more open to LGBTQ athletes, Michael Sam’s announcement that he is gay is probably the biggest announcement in the history of homosexuality and sports.
Last season, Sam terrorized opposing SEC offenses at the University of Missouri, racking up 11.5 sacks en route to the SEC Player of the Year award. He is currently projected to be a mid-round draft prospect, falling somewhere between the third and fifth rounds.
But why come out now? Why not wait until he was already drafted by an organization? Because Sam sensed that rumors were circulating about his sexuality and he wanted to address them now.
“I just want to make sure I could tell my story the way I want to tell it,” Sam told The New York Times in an interview published on Sunday. “I just want to own my truth.”
With this announcement, Sam has now become a trailblazer in what is arguably the sports world’s most homophobic league. For every Chris Kluwe and Brendon Ayanbadejo, we have a Jonathan Vilma or Chris Culliver who can’t keep their mouths shut.
The NFL is widely divided on the issue, and now Sam is making them confront it head on. It will be very interesting to see how the league handles the situation.
If Sam falls in the draft, will it be because of his sexuality? SI’s Pete Thamel and Thayer Evans tackled this significant question and the answers from some NFL executives for the most part were not promising.
“I don’t think football is ready for [an openly gay player] just yet,” said an anonymous NFL player personnel assistant to Thamel and Evans.
The take from NFL scouts were along the same lines.
“I just know with this going on this is going to drop him down,” said a veteran NFL scout in the same article. “There’s no question about it. It’s human nature. Do you want to be the team to quote- unquote ‘break that barrier?’”
The answer to that question should be that every NFL team should be willing to “break that barrier,” but reality says that it’s not.
A few more of Thamel and Evans’ sources said that Sam would be best served going to a team that already has an established GM and head coaching tandem in addition to a strong owner. They cited San Francisco, Pittsburgh and Green Bay as possible destinations amongst others.
At the end of the day, Sam is a solid NFL prospect who has a high motor who can hold the point of attack and is versatile enough to play in either a 4-3 or 3-4 scheme. He can get after the quarterback with a variety of moves and he can definitely come in and contribute to any team right away in addition to having the potential to be a starter in the NFL.
Yes, his sexuality will cause some hurdles. But to the team that can look past that and see the player who captured the SEC Defensive Player of the Year last season, they will have a great find.
Michael Sam is ready for the NFL. When the NFL Draft comes on May 8- 10, we will see how ready the league is for him.
Jordan Llanes can be reached at jordan.llanes@theminaretonline.com.