http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/f...gest-obstacle-talented-rams-article-1.1914499
<header>[h=1]Michael Sam’s biggest obstacle: Too many talented St. Louis Rams play same position[/h]</header><header>[h=2]St. Louis has not been a very good team — no playoffs since 2004 and no winning record since 2003 — but its best and deepest position is defensive end — Sam’s position — beginning with Robert Quinn and Chris Long, the best tandem in the NFL.[/h]</header><header>NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
</header><header>Published: Saturday, August 23, 2014, 4:24 PM
</header><header>Updated: Sunday, August 24, 2014, 12:32 PM
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<article itemprop="articleBody" data-streamid="7.2208425" data-streamtags='["NYDN.Sports.d","NYDN.Sports.Football.d"]'> <figure class="a-image v">
Scott Kane/ASSOCIATED PRESSMichael Sam has played well enough in Rams’ camp to earn at least spot on practice squad, if not in St. Louis, then somewhere else in NFL.</figure>
EARTH CITY, Mo. — Michael Sam’s sexual orientation is a non-issue in Rams camp. The players have accepted him and tease him like any other rookie.
The issue is whether the first openly gay player in NFL history is going to become the first openly gay player to make a roster. St. Louis has not been a very good team — no playoffs since 2004 and no winning record since 2003 — but its best and deepest position is defensive end — Sam’s position — beginning with Robert Quinn and Chris Long, the best tandem in the NFL.
In a preseason game Saturday night in Cleveland with the NFL’s two highest-profile rookies, Sam helped his cause by sacking Johnny Manziel twice. After the first one, Sam celebrated by rubbing his fingers together in Manziel’s trademark “money” sign.
“He’s no different than any other late-round pick or college free agent that we have. He’s just trying to make this team,” Rams coach Jeff Fisher said in his office the other day. “We have a reality that we can only keep so many players at that position. Is he better than that fourth or fifth defensive end? Right now, I can’t answer that.”
The cut down from 90 to 75 is Tuesday, and the final cut to 53 is Saturday. Other teams ran away from Sam in the draft — he wasn’t good enough for them to take on the added scrutiny and media attention — and if he doesn’t make the Rams’ opening day roster, he’s likely to clear waivers, making him eligible for one of the 10 spots on St. Louis’ practice squad beginning next Sunday.
As embarrassing as it would have been if Sam didn’t get drafted three months after announcing he’s gay, it won’t look good if he’s not even on a practice squad after he was co-defensive player of the year in the SEC. Even though he had an awful combine and is considered too small to be a pass-rushing defensive end and too slow in pass coverage as a linebacker, it’s hard to believe he won’t at least get one of the 320 practice squad jobs in the NFL.
“He’s done some good things and he’s going to have a chance to make this team,” Long said. “But it’s going to be tough. We’re a pretty deep group. He’s a typical rookie, figuring things out day to day. The jury is still out.”
Sam, who also had a sack last week against the Packers, has volunteered to get more involved on special teams after being used a few times on the kickoff return team last week. Defensive ends don’t usually play special teams, but Fisher is giving Sam every opportunity to make the team.
Fisher has a close relationship with Roger Goodell but said he felt no pressure from the league to take Sam in the seventh round when he was eight picks away from not being drafted.
“That wasn’t our issue,” he said. “That was never an issue. I’m not drafting for the NFL. I’m drafting for our football team. We’re drafting players to help us win. Mike had the skills on tape. We thought he would have a chance. You can never have enough defensive ends now. The other side of that is, it’s probably the strength of our football team right now. It’s been an uphill climb for Mike since he got here. But he’s done a great job. He’s a much better player now than he was when he got here because our position coach Mike Waufle is an excellent teacher.”
On the Rams’ depth chart, veteran William Hayes is listed behind Long at left end, and Eugene Sims is behind Quinn at right end. Sam is listed third team at right end, and to make the team, he’s going to have to beat out second-year player Sammy Brown and undrafted West Texas A&M rookie Ethan Westbrooks, who Fisher has been talking up.
Sam is not the first gay player in the NFL. He’s just the first one who came out while he was active. There are no secrets in the locker room, and chances are many players in the NFL have played with gay teammates in colleges or the NFL. That’s why it’s not an issue in the locker room.
“I don’t know concretely, but you hear things, just like you hear rumors about anybody else’s social life. But really, work is work,” Long said. “When you are at work, you don’t really care too much about people’s social lives or their sexuality for that matter. Their sexuality is not really important at work.”
Fisher said the Rams had Sam rated as a late fourth-fifth round pick. By the time the Rams were on the clock with back-to-back selections late in the seventh round, he said taking Sam “was an easy pick.”
Now, he’s just “one of the guys,” he said.
Following the BullyGate scandal in Miami last year, there is a league-wide initiative to promote workplace conduct that centers on inclusion and diversity. The NFL has set it up so a former NFL player speaks to each team. The Rams got their talk recently from Hall of Famer Aeneas Williams, who played for the Cardinals before finishing his career in St. Louis. “It was an outstanding presentation,” Fisher said.
The Rams insisted taking Sam was all about football. If it was also designed to bring attention to the team and create positive publicity to result in ticket sales, it didn’t work. Unlike when the Browns drafted Manziel, the Rams’ decision to take Sam didn’t result in any impact on the box office.
The pressure is on Sam because he wants to play in the NFL, and such a high profile job will assist him in further becoming a role model for younger gay athletes.
“Guys in the locker room don’t let it become a distraction. That is the main thing,” Quinn said. “Keep your eyes on the bigger prize and go from there.”
By next Sunday, when Sam will likely either be on the Rams’ active roster or their practice squad, it will become clearer if he has a future in the league.
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