NFL Team Official: Michael Sam Is ‘Not A Really Good Athlete’
 

ST. LOUIS (CBS St. Louis) — It could be a very long weekend for Michael Sam.
The openly gay football player from the University of Missouri is hoping an NFL team takes a chance and makes history by drafting him, but some experts believe he might end up being an undrafted free agent.
Scouts told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that they don’t see Sam’s game transitioning to the NFL.
“Most of his production was hustle stuff,” an NFC personnel official told the Journal Sentinel. “There’s production, but he’s short, he’s not a really good athlete and he doesn’t play good against the run.”
He continued: “He’s kind of a one-task pass rusher. Just run up the field. And they swallow him up and kind of push him around.”
One NFC personnel director stated that Sam doesn’t have a position in the league.
“He’s not a linebacker, and he’s really not a defensive end,” the personnel director told the Journal Sentinel. “I’d certainly take him to camp. You’ve got to admire how hard he plays.”
An AFC executive said Sam was “short and slow.” Sam stands at 6 feet 2 inches and weighs 262 pounds.
Despite the potential setbacks, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is hoping to see Sam succeed in the league.
“I want to see Michael Sam get an opportunity to play in the NFL,” Goodell told ESPN Thursday before the first round of the NFL Draft. “We like to say the NFL is the ultimate meritocracy. If you can play football, they want to see you play. The teams want you. The fans want you. And that’s ultimately what it’s all about.”
Goodell continued: “I have great respect for Michael, his courage, his decision to become public, and I’m optimistic that he’s going to get that opportunity, and hopefully he can play at this level.”
Sam, who was the SEC’s Defensive Player of the Year, will be the first openly active gay player in the league.
http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2014/05/...-good-athlete/

I hope he ends up in KC.

We have absolutely no need for him.

THIS IS NEW INFORMATION

I also hope he's good. If he's good, there's always room for pass rushers.

Glad I could help you

Wonder if they find out who those owners/execs are... Will they be forced to quit or sell their teams?

Lol, and the media is going to blame the fact that he goes undrafted on his sexuality. IN reality, he's going to go undrafted because he's not a very good athlete in a draft class that's packed full of great athletes.

wut

There's really no reason to think that he'll be anything more than camp fodder for whatever team gets him. His skill set just doesn't translate well to the NFL.

Openly active gay player? WTF?

so do I

Does anyone other than Mizzou fans and gay activists REALLY give a shit about this...?

Seriously? :spock:

THIS

He'll be in training camp somewhere next year.

The guy was never projected to be a high pick anyway and it was all the same reasons. I think he will get drafted simply because in spite of his athletic shortcomings there is a precedent for guys with mediocre measurables who hustle their way to becoming good pass rushers.

Me Too.. Preferably with their 3rd round pick :clap:

Will he have a private room?

Are you friggin' kidding me??? The guy is a 6th-7th rounder...

Got to give the home town kid a chance man, quit being a homophobe:shake:

Yep...if you don't believe Sam Michaels isn't a number 1 over-all pick...you hate homos

Who?

I don't really follow college football, but how was he the SEC defensive player of the year if all he can do is "just run up the field?"

Can I be the SEC defensive player of the year?

Go watch the video of him running the 40 at the combine and try not to laugh! LMAO

No, even worse, you hate Black Homos...:rolleyes:

Wait what?

Just because he's gay?

That's reeruned.

Was he sashaying ?

LMAO Pretty much!

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/_X2c2CT_Wzo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

not what his boyfriend said

He's not a natural runner at all. Too upright and he's flopping his arms around like a kid at the playground. I don't know that 40 times really say all that much about how he would perform though. He's shown as 6'2" at 261 pounds, and he looks like he could add a little bulk. It will come down to his work ethic.

Michael Sam should have maybe come out AFTER the draft...

I mean the SEC Defensive player of the year is a 6-7 round pick in what other draft?

He runs a 4.9, is a tweener, and isn't athletic enough to make the transition to OLB in a 3-4. He also lacks the explosiveness to be a legitimate option for any team that's running the wide-9. This draft is packed full of great prospects and athletic freaks.

You really expect someone to draft Michael Sam ahead of a lot of other talent who are seen as having vastly superior potential?

Exactly.

Not big enough for 4-3 DE, not athletic enough for 3-4 OLB.

Boofoo Grigsby?

Well it is the chiefs. I can see this fan base falling in love with him.

He does have a Purdy mouth.

He'll be a Bronco.

He's ghey.

Didn't see anyone answer this.
The SEC defensive player of the year isn't NFL material? Does seem a little odd. Found this on the web, for what it's worth:

To get some sense of the range of outcomes for the “productive” players who won their major conference Defensive Player of the Year awards, I looked back at the last decade in the SEC, ACC, Big Ten, Big XII, and Pac-10/12. In the SEC, only one player who won the award was selected outside the top 33 picks in the draft–Chad Lavalais of LSU (who won the award in 2003) in the fifth round (pick #148 overall). When we look at all five conferences, here are the results.

Of the 54 players, almost three-fourths were selected in the first two rounds of the draft (74.1%). Only three players lasted past the sixth round–all undrafted, and all three were middle linebackers/leaders of defenses. One of those was Mark Herzlich, who dealt with cancer and made a valiant comeback after sitting out an entire season, after winning the award in 2008.

He got a lot of "should be" sacks.

Meaning there were times he just had a straight shot to the QB unblocked.

I saw that numerous times last season.

Some really, really good college football players just don't translate physically to the NFL. Michael Sam is one of them.

But But glabbert was a stud qb / life loser.

In sprint drills he always comes in a little behind.

Guess most NFL personnel men agreed with me... ;)

I totally failed Tex's test. I mean I just started laughing my ass off.

I heard he is gay.

Yea they already said he was a longshot ... I will have 0 respect for anyone that brings someone in just because they are gay

Him not getting drafted is 100% regressive NFL front office groupthink bullshit. A full 100%. He's absolutely worth a 7th round lottery ticket, for as much as teams play special, nickle-based pass-rush packages. He's an NFL role player at best, but that's still plenty good enough to get drafted.

It's hard to say really.

On one hand, yeah the NFL is really regressive and this isn't a surprise. On the otherhand, this draft was so ****ing deep that UDFA period is going to be an additional draft. The new rookie structuring really ****ed over seniors and the NFL+NFLPA need to do something about it.

I could also see teams being nervous as lets be real, he could be a camp cut. The amount of media attention that cut would get I could see why teams are nervous.

He could be a Chiefs cheerleader ?

Even if he's a Raider :p

Nothing is scarier to an NFL team than a potential "distraction." It's horseshit, fearful thinking, and it PLAGUES the NFL.

Bet he plays with a huge chip on his shoulder...

... in the CFL. http://www.kanyetothe.com/forum/Smil...ault/vkN78.png

Or Arena Football.

Thats the ONLY reason ESPN, and especially Rich I., is pimping him so much now...He actually put up the last 5 DE's taken and was asking why they were picked and not Sam. Funny, they're not doing that for any other player.

I mean he was the SEC Defensive Player of the Year... so he wasn't complete garbage by any means. Guess the whole gay thing affected his draft stock in a negative way.

NFLN used that footage IN SLO-MO [npi], to start a segment on him.

ROFL ROFL

Everyone talks about his bad combine, and it was bad. But they don't acknowledge that his pro day was demonstrably better.

It's just fact that him coming out affected his draft stock more than anything else. He wasn't a candidate for every team because of scheme. But for the teams he would fit in as a situational/subpackage guy? Those teams' front offices literally think that their locker rooms are fragile as glass. Any distraction can destroy a team, they think.

They literally think that their locker rooms are less stable -- that their player have less mental toughness -- than the college locker room at Missouri.

Kent Babb ‏@kentbabb 20m

If Sam indeed goes undrafted, the almighty "distraction" remains the most powerful force in the NFL. Teams are scared to death of it.

There seems to be a bit of glee being expressed around here that Sam is going undrafted... I don't understand if.

I don't think so.

Chad Lavalais was the SEC DPotY a few years ago. He was like a 7th rounder or UDFA.

Some guys just don't have NFL bodies.

Remember vontaze burfict or whatever from Arizona sun devils

He went un drafted to Cincy and beast raped people. I was hooing we could have drafted that guy with our 7th.

Nowadays freedom of speech is gone and you can't say anything about gay people without feeling the fallout. Actions speak the loudest and nobody wants to draft the gay guy it looks like LMAO

There are better players than Sam who've still not been drafted. Get over it.

He's a man and he doesn't like boobs.

He's not big enough to play DE in an NFL 4-3 and he doesn't have the first step or quickness to play OLB in a 3-4. He's a tweener with horrible measurables...

Call me crazy, but I feel like Dorsey/Reid would totally welcome Sam into the Chiefs locker room as a camp body to see if he could fight for a spot. They really seem to give the least ****s about how the media perceives anything they do, and I think Andy Reid would be a solid mentor if the guy truly does have something inside of him that makes him a competitor.

There...

He's now been drafted.

Then when we cut him, it will be a hate crime

Now shut up

Nice, stl is already kinda gay. Works out great

There. Another gay man in the NFL. Big whoop

Gross.

LULZ THE RAMZ ARE TEH GAY!!!

You are correct

I honestly wish he was good enough. But he feasted on college level competition. He was in a good conference and acquitted himself well. But he had an eye for the slow O-lineman or the glaring unblocked path to the QB that pops up. Those things aren't going to show up in the NFL.

I made a joke about Grigsby, but that's who he reminds me off. Tough, good attitude, but enough undersized and slow to get engulfed.

And now the Rams take him. Good luck cracking that line. Actually he might feast a bit on situational downs where his teammates create for his skillset.

Rich Politicking...

STFU Rich... just move on

By the Rams... What a joke. Where is the same coverage for all the other undrafted F A's? It is/ was and is ONLY about him being gay. Mission accomplished ESPN. :shake:

With the line STL has Sam's going straight to the practice squad.

No SHIT! What a TOOL!

The media has an agenda. That's certainly not news.

Nope. He will be sacking groceries with Geno in two years.