Bills’ Eric Wood blames ESPN for lack of interest in Michael Sam

[Thordaddy]

Andy Reid strikes me as a guy, like Fish, who'd not care about the circus. Not sure their Dline makup though. I too was surprised to see Dallas let him clear waivers

Except of course it's Jerruh who IMO is a red neck pecker wood

 

[RamFan503]

I have nothing against Sam. I am not a Missouri fan. I don't dislike Missouri - I just don't follow them as a Pac 12 guy.

I do think that no matter how well he played, he had an uphill battle that had nothing to do with him as a football player because no matter how decent of a person he is, the media is anything but.

All that being said, I didn't get the chance to watch him in practice but what I saw of him in pre-season games was less than what I was hoping for from a co-defensive player of the year from the SEC. But alas it may be much like the Heisman Trophy. Many times the Heisman winner is a college phenom but doesn't translate well to the NFL. For example: I thought MS's sack against Cleveland was due to an absolutely pathetic attempt at hand checking him. (I still loved his mimicking Johnny Shortball.) But what I saw mostly was a player that was easily stymied by a single blocker and not much in the way of actual disruption despite his 3 sacks. I highly doubt that the coaches saw a different player than that and decided to cut him anyway. While it would have been a great story for him to make the team or PS, I can't really say I'm surprised he didn't after watching his play.

This is not to say that he has absolutely no future in the NFL. But I personally think he needs to work on his technique for the NFL game. He is going to have to show the potential to beat even better competition than he saw in pre-season for the most part. But if he doesn't get picked up for someone's PS, I wouldn't attribute it all to the media circus. It really only seems to pop up occasionally since the first few weeks after the draft - with the exception of the absolute moronic "report" from ESPN. If anything, us cutting him makes him less of a big story for the next team and a far lesser risk for them in PR if he doesn't make their team either.

All in all I discount the media sideshow angle as far as why Sam is not on anyone's PS yet. I don't doubt however that there are homophobic feelings out there among coaches, GMs, owners, and players that might make it more difficult and that sucks for him.

For sure though - ESPN's shower piece did not do him any favors. Honestly? It just seems to me that they were trying to sound empathetic through their own homophobia. What a bunch of tools - especially that wannabe reporter with the "smart girl" glasses. Just pathetic.

 

[RamFan503]

A team only had to put him on the 53 if they claimed him off of waivers. That ended Sunday at noon. After that, any team could sign him to their 53 OR their practice squads.

And there is just simply no way that with the number of completely crappy 4-3 teams out there that anyone is going to convince me that Michael Sam isn't substantially better than the people on the bottom of some of those rosters.

Lastly... about the weight... enough. The Rams asked Sam to drop 13 lbs so that he could attempt to play Special Teams. However, that was a long shot and it may have actually hurt his chances to make the team as much as helped him because while he was faster, he was lighter. So, the very notion that Michael Sam can't be back to the 270 he showed up to OTAs at or go up to 275 is patently ridiculous.

Btw, it's NEVER been about height and weight. For the Rams, this was all about football. For the rest of the league? I call bullfeathers...

I got one thing to say about that. BUTTFEATHERS! That is one of the funniest terms I have ever heard. Maybe it's because I own a restaurant named Pig Feathers and I serve a lot of pork butt - I dunno. But you can count on my stealing that one.

 

[RamFan503]

I can't believe Jerry Jones hasn't signed him. They're in need of help (loss of D. Ware) and jerry could exploit the situation financially as only jerry jones would do

That's one I am curious about as well. Doesn't Dallas need help on their D-line in a BIG way? Oh well. It already pisses me off that my guy George Selvie went to that shitty organization. I would no doubt have to hate him if he went there. Good think I can count on Jeruh GoodOleBoyNetwork Jones to not allow that to happen.

 

[blue4]

Word is Dallas has him in for a physical. Hope it goes well for him. Rambill has posted an article with more info.

 

[Debacled]

Well, the Bruce Irvin is a mixed example because they aren't using him as a DE anymore, but I get your point. They try different things.

As can be said for every draftee, none have played a meaningful down in the NFL. Of course. And I agree with you on some of your points.

I disagree with you on how some of you evaluate Michael Sam. Now, I grant you, I do my evaluations in a very unconventional manner. But... those allowed me to hit on guys like Alshon Jeffery when all I heard was he was a fat prima donna who would be the next Mike Williams. So, when I evaluate Michael Sam, it's through my own unconventional lens. As for the LDE deal, he can only line up where the Rams line him up. He did play RDE plenty against Miami, for example, but because it was only that one game, it didn't balance out the other 3 games of mostly LDE. That's not to say that they wouldn't have played him at RDE, but there are only so many snaps a game. The question is what does he do with those snaps? I actually saw him play the run BETTER from the RDE position than from the LDE, yet he pass rushed better from LDE. That's probably a relic from Mizzou where he rarely swapped with Ealy.

So, I have to grant that when we talk about him, we may be looking at different things or seeing the same things, but applying grossly differing weights to them. And I can't really say that there's a right or wrong to that. I just know that I've had a fair bit of success with my own concoction.

I don't know what to say about Special Teams. Almost no DEs play special teams and when the Rams graded him, they took NONE of his special teams play into account. Which meant that he lost those 13 pounds... for nothing or worse it might have cost him a job.

Lastly, I really do hear you when you talk about scheme and that he's a bit raw (we differ on the degree of raw, but...he's a rookie so he's gonna be raw). I just don't believe that Michael Sam wouldn't have been better than Cassius Marsh or a host of other players. I just don't. I think Ethan Westbrooks is an anomaly and the Rams got a steal, but he's certainly not typical of the talent found in UDFAs. I think Ethan Westbrooks is a 2nd round talent that got washed out by Div II bias, inconsistent production and penalty-itis. However, once he got to the Rams, it seems he was all cured and played up to his potential. Michael Sam was about a 3rd round talent given the depth of this draft and seems to have played to that. So, I'm not surprised that Ethan Westbrooks outplayed him.

I guess the thing that bothers me is this. Presuming that even though it was no secret at Mizzou... had they really just told Michael Sam to just stay in the closet until after the draft and he kept his mouth shut and for whatever reason, no one outed him... I honestly can't see a reason for him going outside of the 5th round, even if folks dinged him HARD because of the Combine and totally ignored his Pro Day.

Now here's the thing. If he goes in the 5th round... are we having this discussion? Or is he ON a 53 for some team and THEN he announces and we wonder...would it have changed anything? Cuz, the lesson to any gay college athlete NOW is to shut your damn mouth, get drafted and then, if you want to come out, do it after your first game as a pro when it's too late to be cut.

Sam's hips more than anything else hurt his draft stock. He looked like a fish out of water when dropping back into anything that resembled a LB drill. That right there essentially removed him from roughly half of the league's draft boards.

There are players that drop every year, even fall into the undrafted ranks. There is so much that goes into the draft process that none of us are privy to.

Dion Bailey is a great example. Some people were calling him a 2nd round pick, 3rd or 4th at worst and he went undrafted. One thing we should all know as Rams fans college success does not equal NFL success (cough cough Eric Crouch cough cough)

 

[Mackeyser]

Now see... things were going along nice and civil...and you had to go and bring up Eric Crouch...

 

[RamFan503]

Word is Dallas has him in for a physical. Hope it goes well for him. Rambill has posted an article with more info.

Good for him - bad for me. Hate seeing former Rams go to teams like the cowgirls, shechickens, viqueens, or whiners. At least it is not the patsies.

 

[Mackeyser]

Well, he can't hurt us on the practice squad. Not really. Now, if Barksdale is out and it's Sam versus Hooey at RT? Yeah, I'm worried...

 

[blue4]

Well, he can't hurt us on the practice squad. Not really. Now, if Barksdale is out and it's Sam versus Hooey at RT? Yeah, I'm worried...

If Barksdale goes out I'm worried about everybody we face. I don't have much confidence in Hooey.

 

[Mackeyser]

I'm just giving him a hard time. I think he'll step up if he has to. Once the regular season is here, I'll give anyone wearing Horns the B.O.D. until they give me a reason otherwise...