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Michael Sam accepted to veteran NFL Combine

By Will Osgood

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NFL free agent DE Michael Sam to compete in new veteran NFL Combine. 

It is possible that no player in NFL history has created more stink without ever playing a regular season down than free-agent defensive end Michael Sam. This time last year Michael Sam had just completed the standard NFL Combine, which has become an event in and of itself, hosted yearly in Indianapolis.

The big news at that time was a sort of two-fold unfolding. First, Sam had already announced that he was gay. As such, he was expected to become the first openly gay player to be drafted. Second, it was questionable whether he was good enough to make an NFL roster on skill level alone.

After a long, tedious draft process all 32 NFL teams passed on the Missouri Tiger and 2013 SEC defensive player of the year through six full rounds and compensatory picks, until the St. Louis Rams took him with the 249th overall pick. Several NFL voices were openly against selecting Sam, in part because of his less than impressive draft profile, but also because of the media circus which figured to follow.

His significant falling down the draft also caused some to opine that perhaps the NFL is not as progressive as it makes itself out to be. After playing well in the Rams’ training camp, Sam was cut. He later signed with the Dallas Cowboys practice squad, but was eventually released in October.

In a recent interview with Peter King’s SI spinoff, Monday Morning Quarterback, Sam allowed that he did not believe being a homosexual is the reason he was twice cut by NFL teams. Instead, he took the high road, praising the Rams and Cowboys for giving him a chance to play. That did come after he made comments in December to TMZ about his being released being related to his homosexuality.

Either way, Sam is an NFL free agent. In past years, he would likely be no more than a never was, as far as the NFL is concerned. But Adam Schefter reports that he is being given a new and unique opportunity.

The NFL Veteran Combine is a brand new event, which no one is quite sure how it will work out, or what its results will be. Will teams take it seriously? The answer to that is a likely yes. NFL franchises are famous for almost literally turning over every stone in efforts to find the right 53 guys–plus approximately 10 guys for a practice squad.

If that player was to be found under a rock, they’d almost certainly find him. Sam is far from living under a rock. As stated before, he’s probably as well-known as any player who hasn’t done anything in the NFL.

The NFL’s Veteran Combine might be a step towards changing that.

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