It’s been two years since Michael Sam was drafted by the St. Louis Rams and became the first openly gay pro football player to be drafted into the NFL. However, Sam’s NFL dreams didn’t play out as many hoped and he was eventually cut by the Rams and then waived from the Dallas Cowboys’ practice squad. But now, reports are claiming that things weren’t what they seemed when the Rams drafted Sam. Reportedly, the Rams only drafted Sam because of a secret deal with the NFL.
Many stories were floating in 2014 about how and why Sam was drafted by the Rams. Some say Sam was drafted based on his merit as an All-American and the Southeastern Conference Defensive Player of the Year during his senior year at the University of Missouri. Others said that Sam was drafted because the NFL wanted to avoid bad PR about being homophobic.
However, according to veteran NFL reporter Howard Balzer, the Rams drafted Sam as a part of a deal with the NFL in which they wouldn’t have to appear on or be the focus of the 2014 edition of HBO’s “Hard Knocks” docuseries as long as they drafted Sam.
Balzer then wrote an article in which he alleged that multiple sources shared that Rams head coach Jeff Fisher was opposed to the idea of having his team on the show, claiming he wanted “normalcy” during his training camp. However, as Balzer notes, the 2014 training camp was far from normal as the media spent an excessive amount of time delving into and scrutinizing Sam’s role on the team before he was cut.
Balzer even claims that sources say the NFL ordered teams not to draft defensive end Ethan Westbrooks after Sam was selected because it would’ve seemed “unseemly.” However, Balzer alleges that Westbrooks is who the Rams really wanted on their team and Westbrooks ended up getting a roster spot as an undrafted free agent the same year as Sam. Balzer intimated that the NFL kept Westbrooks from being drafted by other teams as a thank-you to the Rams for helping them avoid a PR nightmare over Sam.
Ironically though, now that the Rams are in Los Angeles, Fisher has changed his mind about being on “Hard Knocks” and released a statement about being featured on the show.
“This is an exciting time for our franchise. ‘HARD KNOCKS’ will be an outstanding way to bring our fans into our training camp and preseason, and give a glimpse of the hard work and dedication of our players, coaches and staff as we prepare for the 2016 season,” Fisher said.
Now that the article is out, some fans are arguing that Balzer’s story is just a bunch of strung together conspiracy theories about the NFL, others say the Rams agreed to appear on “Hard Knocks” in order to gain approval for their move to L.A., while others claim that the Rams likely avoided being on “Hard Knocks” in 2014 because they had drafted Sam and wanted to minimize the amount of negative publicity about the team.
However, Sam recently responded to the article on Twitter and had this to say about it:
Well, there’s no concrete evidence to prove Balzer’s story, but it’s safe to say that a lot more goes on behind the scenes than people realize when these major NFL deals are made.
