Player "comes out" to try to improve his draft status?

Benevolent One

Benevolent One

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The story broke recently that former Missouri DE Michael Sam has "come out" as the first openly gay man in college football. Of course, the first thing people want to talk about is if this will hurt his draft status. He has been projected to go in the third to the sixth round of the upcoming NFL Draft. He had 11.5 sacks in the SEC last year and some are saying that if he wasn't gay that should make somebody draft him higher. Well, a quick look at the numbers tells you that 3 of those sacks came against Arkansas St, 3 against Vanderbilt and 3 against a horrible Florida team this year. That means 2.5 in the other 7 games total. He is also barely 6'1" tall and there is very little history of DE's that short being able to succeed in the NFL where it is imperative to escape left tackles who are significantly taller and therefore have significantly longer arms to hold you at bay and control where you go.

I'm not saying that he can't play in the NFL. He may end up being a pass rush specialist or he may end up developing into a linebacker if he works really hard at it. I'm just saying that just because he is gay doesn't mean that somebody has the responsibility to take him higher in the draft and hope that he can develop into that or more eventually.

The following video is pretty interesting.

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:10431001
 
That was a good explanation in the clip, thanks.
 
This will hurt his draft possibilities and he knows this.
He wants to be open about it as he came out in college last year.
Not sure the pro football world is ready for it yet
 
The problem I see is if the teams have legitimate reasons for not drafting him, like they say in the video height- strength- agility etc, then it will be unfairly blasted everywhere that the entire NFL is homophobic and that's why he wasn't drafted and not focus on the truth that he just wasn't good enough.
 
Johali said:
The problem I see is if the teams have legitimate reasons for not drafting him, like they say in the video height- strength- agility etc, then it will be unfairly blasted everywhere that the entire NFL is homophobic and that's why he wasn't drafted and not focus on the truth that he just wasn't good enough.
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Nailed it. This is just a cop out for if he fails in the NFL, imo. If he fails, it won't be because he doesn't have the talent, it will be because he's gay.
 
Regardless of alterior motives, I think he's handling his situation with class. Instead of throwing it under the rug to become a big story later. Good on him.
 
Frankly, I think it took a lot of guts for him to do what he did. I also think the NFL is, for lack of a better phrase, less than gay friendly, and he has a hard road in front of him now.
 
As long as you have no outstanding character issues, GMs only care about your potential as a football player. Jason Collins still hasn't signed with an NBA team since coming out last April. This certainly won't help Sam.

Sam came out to to the team back in August and he, in consultation with Mizzou's PR staff, decided to postpone the announcement until after the season so it wouldn't be a distraction to the team (Mizzou declined all interview requests for him throughout the season).
 
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FLRacingFan said:
As long as you have no outstanding character issues, GMs only care about your potential as a football player. Jason Collins still hasn't signed with an NBA team since coming out last April. This certainly won't help Sam.

Sam came out to to the team back in August and he, in consultation with Mizzou's PR staff, decided to postpone the announcement until after the season so it wouldn't be a distraction to the team (Mizzou declined all interview requests for him throughout the season).
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Collins hasn't singed with an NBA team because he is simply a horrible basketball player. I honestly thought somebody would sign him though as a PR move. Apparently, even the PR benefits aren't enough to justify paying him what his veteran status requires for the 1 point and 1 rebound a game he gives you off of the bench.
 
DUN24 said:
Regardless of alterior motives, I think he's handling his situation with class. Instead of throwing it under the rug to become a big story later. Good on him.
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He does seem to be handling it with class. However "throwing it under the rug" is pretty misleading. People get mad when somebody like Tim Tebow state their religious views but praise a guy for stating his views and his lifestyle choices.

The only real issue I have with this is if he gets a chance that someone with more talent or who has earned it more is denied, because they have not chosen to live this way and bring attention to their choices.
 
He will be welcome on any team as long as he doesnt suck as a player.
 
Hmmmm. I thought they wanted to be treated like everyone else? Straight people don't go around saying they're straight:owquitit:
 
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