Michael Sam Says a Ton of NFL Players Came Out to Him But He'll Totally Never Tell Who
Source – Michael Sam made history in becoming the first openly gay player drafted into the NFL. But he insists he does not stand alone. Sam declined to estimate how many gay athletes play in the NFL. But he said Thursday that several players contacted him after the St. Louis Rams made Sam a seventh-round draft pick last year.
“I am not the only gay person in the NFL,” Sam said Thursday. “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. “Was it a risky move? Yes. But at that moment, the reason why I came out is I thought it wasn’t going to be a big deal. Maybe I was naive. Maybe I thought it was 2014, and people will understand that there’s gay NFL players. There’s gay athletes everywhere. But I was clearly wrong. It was a huge deal.
“The players who have reached out to me and told me about their sexual orientation, it just means a lot. 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.”
Look, this isn’t something anybody with a brain didn’t know. Just by the numbers there’s gotta be a bunch of gay dudes in the NFL. I mean you’ve got all those kickers… Olivia Munn is clearly a beard. So yeah, everybody knew there were gay guys in the NFL and that they just weren’t out yet. No shocker there. What I can’t understand / don’t believe for a second is that Michael Sam didn’t get that being the first openly gay NFL player would be a big deal. When do you think it clicked for him? Probably somewhere in between the camera crew camped out at his house when he got picked in the 7th round and his appearance on Dancing with the Stars even though he isn’t on an NFL roster is when it really hit him. Turns out people give a shit if you’re the first to do something. Shocker, I know. So I don’t buy this whole spiel about thinking that coming out to the whole world before the NFL draft was gonna be no big deal. Not for one second.
And does anybody else get the sense that Michael Sam is definitely going to out some of these guys based on his commentary here? I mean he explicitly says that he won’t but I can read between the lines. Sam’s saltier than Gail the Snail headed out of Paddy’s pub. He basically says that every NFL athlete who’s gay but not out of the closet isn’t as courageous as him. And why even bring up the fact that there are gay guys in the league? Like I said, everybody pretty much knows that. It feels like Sam’s a couple Canadian league missed tackles away from letting out everybody’s dirty little secrets. Lookin at you, Dallas.