“Some people actually just couldn’t believe I was actually gay,” Michael Sam told The New York Times. “But I never had a problem with my teammates. Some of my coaches were worried, but there was never an issue.”
Michael Sam is a 6’2”, 255-pound defensive end from the University of Missouri, though he might be moved to outside linebacker in the pros. He is also the first openly gay NFL draft prospect; he is projected to be selected as early as the third round, making him very likely to be the first openly gay player in league history.
While no one’s sexual orientation should be national news in 2014, Sam’s announcement still should be. This moment may have been inevitable, but it is vital we give it the attention and the celebration it warrants now that it has arrived.
Jason Collins came out last April, but he has not since signed with an NBA team. Robbie Rogers became the first openly gay player in MLS (Major League Soccer) history a month later. So it was only a matter of time before Michael Sam came along, but even so, he’s out in America’s most popular, most macho sport. It could not matter less that he’s a gay man, but it still means a ton that he’s a gay football player.
But he’s not a gay NFL player yet, which makes what happens next for Sam so confusing and potentially problematic.
Sam is a decent prospect, but not much more than that; his short-term future on an NFL team is likely as a situational pass rusher and as a special teamer. A lot of that has to do with his physical makeup: a good but not great athlete who would seem gargantuan walking down the street, Sam is actually a bit shorter and possibly even a few pounds lighter than most teams would like an edge rusher to be. So if he starts slipping in the draft, NFL general managers will be able to point to legitimate gripes they have with him as a player, though those might not be the reasons why those GMs spurn him.
Shortly after Sam’s announcement hit the press, Sports Illustrated and Monday Morning Quarterback articles cited general managers, scouts, and other front office personnel expressing concerns, under protection of anonymity, that a gay player would be a distraction and a detriment to stability in the locker room. Those football men predict that, despite Sam’s stellar work on the field and as a leader of the Missouri Tigers, his draft stock will fall because he has opened up about his sexuality.
Readers summarily denounced those articles for perpetuating dated, ignorant perspectives on Sam’s announcement, thereby fueling backlash through the media without exposing any of the speakers to take responsibility for their words. Then again, the anonymous sources spoke honestly on the record precisely because they knew the vitriol their statements would incite. It shouldn’t surprise anyone, with the prevalence of certain gay slurs in professional sports locker rooms, that there might be friction when integrating an openly gay player into an NFL environment with at least some level of institutionalized homophobia. But for a front office member to raise his doubts with his name and face attached to the statement would be to actively seek to be a pariah. At least now we know if NFL front offices pass over Sam on draft day, his playing ability won’t be the whole story.
Even so, given his mid-round grade right now, it would be a shock if Sam slips all the way past the seventh round and goes undrafted; a draft slide might knock a few dollars off his first contract, but he’s all but guaranteed to join an NFL team this May. Once there, it won’t matter whether he was picked first or last, only how he performs on the field and conducts himself off it.
From everything Sam has said and done, he will not make himself bigger than the team; people in his camp have said that, at least for the next year, he will not seek to be an activist for LGBTQ causes, but focus on being a good player and teammate. Sam won’t force his sexuality upon the men around him, meaning his personal life will only become an issue if someone else makes it one. Yes, the NFL’s code of professionalism has been marred by bigotry before: just look at Richie Incognito’s bullying of Jonathan Martin, which caused Martin to leave the Miami Dolphins midway through the 2013 season. But even in that scenario, the oppressor created the distraction, not the oppressed. To say Sam will be a distraction highlights only his differences at the expense of what makes him the same as everyone else in the NFL: his athleticism, his work ethic, his dedication to his team and the game.
Sam came out to his college teammates prior to the 2013 season, and they rallied around him—not necessarily because all of the hundred-plus men were comfortable with his sexuality, but because they respected and appreciated him as a player and as a person. After going 5-7 the year before, the Tigers finished 2013 with a 12-2 record, while Sam led the Southeastern Conference with 11.5 sacks en route to being named SEC Defensive Player of the Year. Sam’s honesty did not divide the team because his truth was one of unity. Within the confines of the locker room, Sam led the men around him just as he had before, and if they had any problem with who he loves, that was their personal business just as Sam’s sexuality was his. Love will not cause a distraction; only hatred that rises to oppose it can. Sam’s road to a professional football career will not be without uncommon difficulties, but to blame the gay man for the homophobia he will face is to disrespect his openness and to restrict the NFL’s progress toward tolerance.
Cohen is a member of the class of 2014.