St. Louis Rams player: Michael Sam show may be a distraction

A St. Louis Rams player spoke on the condition of anonymity with ESPN”s Josina Anderson about his most famous new teammate, Michael Sam, and his upcoming reality show on the Oprah Winfrey Network and thinks it’s going to be a distraction.

"“It’s an interesting case that he gets to work with Oprah and have his own show, but I think it does raise eyebrows and it may be somewhat of a distraction,” the player told ESPN’s Josina Anderson. “But this is our first time dealing with something like this, so we’ll have to wait and see how it plays out and how people react.”"

“The Untitled Michael Sam Project” will air in six to eight documenting the former Missouri Tigers defensive end and last year’s co-SEC Defensive Player of the Year as he attempts to make the Rams as the 249th pick in the 2014 NFL Draft.

The Rams player also wonders if his teammates are truly embracing having an openly gay teammate or if people are hiding their true feelings in favor of being politically correct.

“Clearly I’m not sure how everyone feels, but from what I can tell so far I think it’s a little bit of both, honestly,” he tells Anderson.

This player is not the only one to publicly question if this reality show will be a distraction as former NFL quarterback Shaun King thinks Sam is making a big mistake and this show could be a reason why he slipped all the way to the seventh round.

Would this teammate think it would be a big distraction if the Rams were selected to be on HBO’s Hard Knocks series?