Report: NFL teams want to sign Michael Sam, but are afraid of media attention
The St. Louis Rams’ former 7th round pick, Michael Sam, was cut by the team ahead of deadline to cut down to the 53-man roster. He also cleared waivers and is a free agent in the NFL as we speak.
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Sam apparently has suitors in the NFL, but according to a report from Mike Freeman of Bleacher Report he has a GM on record telling him that the media attention is what is keeping him off an NFL roster.
GM tells me: "Teams want to sign Michael Sam but fear the media attention."
— mike freeman (@mikefreemanNFL) September 1, 2014
To me, that's cowardice. But that's just me.
Sam made it through the first round of cuts in St. Louis and appeared on the edge of making the roster as the final preseason game played out.
This preseason, Sam had 77 pass-rush snaps — tallying three quarterback sacks, two quarterback hits and four quarterback hurries.
In some respects it’s hard not to understand the point of fearing the media attention in signing Michael Sam. After all, ESPN has proven just how crazy the media attention can get — reporting on the showering habits (and later walking it back) of Sam in the Rams locker room.
However, as the stats indicated, Sam has enough talent to warrant at least a look on someone’s practice squad. It will be interesting to see when or if Sam is added to an NFL roster this season.