Former Missouri defensive end Michael Sam became the first openly gay player in NFL history to be drafted when the Rams took him with the 249th pick on Saturday. It was an emotional historic moment but it almost didn’t happen because he almost fell out of the draft.
Initially Sam was projected to be a third round pick but was taken with the eighth-to-last pick, meaning he almost wasn’t drafted at all, something he found rather shocking. The NFL’s first openly gay player said he should’ve been picked higher.
“From last season alone, I should’ve been drafted in the first three rounds — SEC Defensive player of the year, All-American,” Sam said, listing off his 2013 accomplishments, via the Rams official website.
What we have basically is a conundrum. If Sam was drafted higher there might be some people who’ll say he was only drafted because he’s gay or because he was drafted lower or if he wasn’t drafted at all people would use the same reasoning. It’s a difficult situation but one thing we can’t deny is his talent which is shown through his numbers as well as the fact he was even chosen as the SEC Defensive player of the year. His performance on the field is all we should acknowledge going forward.
h/t CBS Sports
