Am I ‘gay bashing’ to say Michael Sam has now proven himself to be a ‘Bold-Face Liar’?

Michael Sam — seventh round draft selection of the St. Louis Rams

[Memo to Oprah Winfrey: If you really want to do a Reality TV series about an oddball pro linebacker, why not do a show about San Diego Charger linebacker Manti Te’o and all of his imaginary girlfriends? At least Te’o, unlike Sam, has actually won a spot on an NFL team roster.]

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/10937109/michael-sam-needs-send-message-making-roster-nfl

Commentary

The right message
Sam could gain more for LGBT community by just focusing on making the roster

Updated: May 15, 2014, 8:42 PM ET
By Jason Whitlock | ESPN.com

I say this as a supporter of Michael Sam, I say it as a reformed homophobe, I say it as someone who believes the equality of black and brown people is connected to the equality and freedom granted to gays and lesbians:

Michael Sam’s decision to do a “documentary series” — reality TV show — on the Oprah Winfrey Network is a gigantic tactical error for Sam and his supporters within the LGBT community.

America, for the most part, would wrap its arms around Michael Sam, the gay, underdog football player fighting to find his place in the NFL. America, for the most part, will reject Michael $am, the gay, in-your-face political/media pawn using the NFL as a platform to launch his celebrity brand.

Michael $am contradicts Michael Sam, the SEC Defensive Player of the Year who repeatedly swore he just wanted to focus on football, not his sexuality.

Oprah and her foundering TV network do not care about X’s and O’s. They care about salacious and sensational human drama and the kind of XOXOXs that take place in the bedroom. For context, OWN is the documentary-series home for Lindsay Lohan, the child actress-turned-serial drug-rehabber. That is not written to suggest OWN does not do and aspire to do high-end TV journalism (Lance Armstrong interview). It’s written to imply that even Oprah’s standards cave to the demands of Nielsen ratings.
Michael $am undermines the credibility of Michael Sam.

It all feels orchestrated now: the draft-day kiss; the cake-covered face; the tears; the celebration that conveniently captured just Sam, his boyfriend and his two agents; and even the “Stand with Sam” T-shirts selling on michaelsam.com.

Who knew a reality TV show was being filmed? Who knew Sam’s agents (Cameron Weiss and Joe Barkett) and publicist (Howard Bragman) had cut deals to be producers on the reality TV show?

This is all scripted and amateur. And devious, too.

Michael Sam, the football player, is being used … by everyone. Weiss, Barkett and Bragman are cashing in. Oprah is hoping an attachment to the NFL can breathe life into her network the way the league does for CBS, Fox, NBC and ESPN. The LGBT movement appears to be more concerned with Sam advancing the cause than making the roster. And, yes, the cause is more important than football. But playing football advances the cause a lot more than Real World St. Louis.

On Wednesday morning, before the announcement of the reality show, I interviewed Cyd Zeigler, co-founder of outsports.com, about the male-male kiss. I was planning to write a column that would discuss how parents should talk to their kids about Sam and the kiss.

“I’m so glad [ESPN] broadcasted it,” Zeigler said. “I hope they broadcast it 100 times a day for the 100 days. We have been protecting kids far too long from themselves. There are kids 7 or 8 years old who realize they are gay, and they’ve been raised in the world that has told them for 7 or 8 years that it is either wrong or certainly not how they’re supposed to be.

“The faster parents can tell their kids, the more lives those parents are going to save.”

I get it. I understand the urgency.

But Sam has to play in the NFL to be an effective role model and pioneer. He has to fit into a locker room environment before he can transform that environment.

He is simply not a good enough football player to travel with Oprah’s circus and the NFL’s. He needs to choose one. He’s a seventh-round draft pick who ran a 4.91-second 40-yard dash at the combine. He’s a special-teams player.

Sam’s handlers have misinterpreted the comparisons between Sam and Jackie Robinson. No. 42 had Hall of Fame talent from day one. No one questioned his skill. His teammates could not deny his obvious ability to excel in the majors and help the Dodgers win.

I know the meme: Sam was SEC Defensive Player of the Year and a first-team All-American. Of course he can play in the NFL.

Well, Jackson Jeffcoat, son of former NFL defensive lineman Jim Jeffcoat, was Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and a consensus All-American at defensive end. He was a five-star recruit coming out of high school. Jeffcoat did not get drafted and signed a free-agent contract with Seattle.

I believe Michael Sam can play in the NFL. I’ve written that, and stand by those words. His approach to making a roster is wrong. The NFL unemployment line is littered with guys who had enough talent to play but brought the wrong attitude. In terms of approach, Sam reminds me of Vince Young, the Texas quarterback who came to the league with the wrong handlers in his ear and washed out at a young age.

Sam reported to the combine out of shape and embarrassed himself. He launched a website that is a merchandise store. He complained about being drafted too low. And now he’s signing up for a reality show focused on his personal life and professional journey.

He’s a seventh-round pick. This is preposterous. I support Michael Sam and the movement he represents. However, if I were Rams coach Jeff Fisher, I’d consider cutting $am today. He’s a marginal player with questionable focus on the game.

Michael $am thinks he’s Jadeveon Clowney, a freakish defensive end with questionable passion for the game. Clowney could get away with a reality TV show, a merchandise store and scripted draft-day love scenes. Clowney’s upside is so enormous that coaches and teammates will tolerate his diva tendencies the same way coaches and players tolerated Randy Moss for years.

This thing with Sam is playing out so bizarrely that I now wonder whether his handlers/manipulators totally misread his talent and the NFL. It appears they read “SEC Defensive Player of the Year” and assumed that meant “the next Lawrence Taylor.” They’re likely baffled that Clowney could play in the same conference as Sam, post inferior stats and be the toast of the NFL draft while Sam is a few picks from Mr. Irrelevant.

Michael $am is not the right play for the LGBT movement. Michael Sam would uplift the cause and set the table for a gay superstar football player.

Michael $am will be run out of the NFL quicker than Tim Tebow, another celebrity brand whose talent did not justify the circus that followed him.

Is pro football obligated to give Michael Sam a lucrative contract simply because he’s Gay?

(College football and pro football are obviously two completely different games. Personally – especially as a Christian – I was rooting for Tim Tebow to hook up with an NFL team. Unfortunately, Tebow doesn’t seem to have the “mechanics” needed to be an NFL quarterback despite having much success on the college level.

Assuming this report on Sam’s final season with Missouri is true and accurate, why should an NFL waste a draft choice selection on this guy? If Sam had disclosed absolutely nothing about his sexual orientation, it sure sounds as if he’d be a very late-round pick perhaps not even drafted at all. So for example, if Sam does go undrafted this May, will sports reporters then go up to somebody like, New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick and insinuate that he’s a “homophobe” because he wouldn’t pay this guy the respect to at least draft him despite the fact that he’s openly Gay. The higher the number draft pick, the more lucrative the initial rookie contract.

The bottom line is there seems to be some serious reservations on whether Sam is really a better-than-average football player on the collegiate level, never mind the professional level.  Conforming to “affirmative action standards” don’t exact win teams too many Super Bowl championships in the National Football League.  What would YOU do if you owned an NFL franchise and were in desperate need of a better-than-average defensive lineman from the upcoming draft in May? As for myself, after reading the following article, I think I would take my chances and assume Sam will go undrafted and then perhaps invite him to compete for a team roster spot in the pre-season training camp. Then, if Sam’s not good enough to make the team, I won’t be obligated to pay this guy hundreds-of-thousands, if not millions, should he turn out to be a bust.

I just hope the “affirmative action crowd” remembers some of these arguments when, about a year from now, Michael Sam is employed with some organization other than the National Football League.)

http://mmqb.si.com/2014/02/13/michael-sam-film-study-nfl-draft/

Michael Sam: Studying the Game Tape

We’re learning about Michael Sam the man. But what about Michael Sam the player? We watched every snap he played in 12 games for Missouri last fall to get an unfiltered look at the 2014 draft prospect. Here’s what we found

By Greg A. Bedard

I knew very little about Michael Sam until Sunday night, when the draft-bound Missouri defensive end announced he is gay. (I don’t have time to watch much college football during the NFL season aside from a few big games here and there.) I read a few of the stories about his announcement, but that was the extent of my knowledge about Sam.

On Monday morning, my boss, Peter King, called with an edict: “Don’t talk to any scouts or general managers. Just find as much tape as you can on Michael Sam, watch it and write what you think.”

Several hours, 12 games and 922 Missouri defensive snaps later (I couldn’t get my hands on the Indiana and Kentucky games), I feel I have a firm grasp on the 6-1 ½, 260-pound Michael Sam, NFL draft prospect. Film doesn’t care whether you’re gay or straight, black or magenta: You are what you show on the field.

Here’s what I learned:

He plays hard. When Sam is on the field, he’s always engaged and plays to the whistle. Even though that aspect of his game isn’t extraordinary (other players have higher motors), it’s a solid NFL foundation. However, there is one important aspect to consider: Missouri plays with a strict defensive line rotation. Sam played 58 percent of the snaps in the 12 games I watched. That’s a bit of a double-edged sword, depending on your point of view. On one hand you could say that Sam could have put up even better stats than his 11.5 sacks and 7.5 additional tackles for a loss if the rotation weren’t so strict. On the other hand you could say, “Well, he should put up those kinds of stats and play to the whistle since he plays less than NFL starters. He received more than enough rest during a game.” I lean towards the latter because …

Missouri’s defense has better players than Sam. If Sam was a standout, you would see the Missouri coaches break from the rotation late in the game to get the best players on the field. That didn’t happen, and it stood out in the must-win finale against Texas A&M. On the Aggies’ final three possessions in a 21-21 game, Sam played five of nine snaps. It could be argued that Sam is the fourth-best pass rush prospect on the Tigers. Right end Kony Ealy, who could be a top-10 pick this year, drew much more attention from offenses and had to face the opponent’s best tackle, on the left side of the offensive line. Markus Golden, Sam’s backup on the left side, will be drafted higher than Sam when he enters the draft a year from now. Golden could be a star. He is more athletic and faster than Sam, and watching the Tigers play, I thought Golden was better. There could be other factors as to why he played behind Sam, including Sam’s leadership and smarts. Or perhaps the Missouri coaches didn’t want Golden, a junior-college transfer, to start, in order to increase his chances of staying another season. Sophomore Shane Ray is also more athletic than Sam, a quality valued on special teams at the next level. Same goes for senior end/outside linebacker Brayden Burnett.

Sam produced big time, but… There’s no question that Sam had major production this season, as he led the SEC in sacks and  tackles for a loss (which includes sacks). This is probably why he was named SEC defensive player of the year by the media, and co-DPOY (with Alabama linebacker C.J. Mosley) by the coaches. However, you have to look at the circumstances of his production. Namely, most of it came in three games of a four-game stretch against inferior competition: ArkansasState (three sacks), Vanderbilt (three sacks) and Florida (three sacks). Sam had a total of a half-sack in his final six games, until he made a huge play on basically the final play of the Cotton Bowl. As OklahomaState was driving for a game-tying field goal or game-winning touchdown, Sam made a sack-strip that was returned by Ray for a touchdown. Sam beat right tackle Chris Grishby, who took a false step and was a beat late coming out of his stance. Of the 12 games I watched it was by far the biggest play Sam made all season. (The half-sack Sam had against Texas A&M would not be counted as such in the NFL: Aggie quarterback Johnny Manziel left the pocket, although not on a designed run, and clearly had become a runner. The “sack” was mostly made by Ealy and Matt Hoch, with Sam coming in late.)

So basically in his final five games plus 40 snaps against Oklahoma State—the best competition Sam faced all season—he had no splash plays. The right tackles he faced (as a left end he didn’t go against Texas A&M left tackle Jake Matthews, a projected top-10 pick) in that stretch were more of what he will see in the pros. The right tackles he beat up to gain his production likely wouldn’t be on NFL training-camp rosters. Four of his sacks came with lesser opponents desperate and behind by large margins in the fourth quarter, in obvious passing situations. In addition, Florida’s offensive line was one of the worst I’ve ever seen. Lastly: Sam’s sack against South Carolina in overtime was on an unblocked stunt.

He lacks pass rush moves. As a pass rusher, Sam has one move: a decent, if inconsistent, first step, with a little giddy-up so he can get home on a straight line either around the edge or on a quick stunt inside. But if he’s pushed around in the slightest off the ball, he doesn’t make plays, because—from what I saw—he doesn’t have a good counter move. Of his first 10 sacks of the season, only once was he engaged with a blocker and defeated him (first sack against Vanderbilt). The rest were seven speed rushes around the end against inferior competition, and two when he wasn’t blocked. Sam showed little ability to convert speed to power on his rush, which is one of the most important traits in a good NFL rusher: speed to gain leverage and then the strength to win the play after that. I do think he has some of that somewhere—Sam plays with strong hands and shows good functional strength—but it’s going to have to be developed by a good NFL defensive line coach. He has two pass-rush techniques he incorporates: a dip on the edge, and the occasional hand slap of the tackle. He will need more to succeed in the NFL.

Part of Sam’s limitation with the pass rush is he doesn’t play with a natural instinct for the ball. He’s very good at being assignment-sure and in the right spot immediately after the snap, indicating he takes coaching well, but after that the game does not appear to come naturally to him. It’s a constant theme on tape that he often falls for zone-read play-fakes and also struggles to diagnose screens. A player with limited athletic ability can be a viable player if he has exceptional awareness and instincts, but that does not show up on tape for Sam.

He doesn’t have an obvious NFL position. To me, Sam looked below average against the run. He can’t get off blocks when engaged, and I saw him get cut several times by offensive linemen. For that reason it’s tough to see him as a 4-3 end. Against Auburn, a premier team, Sam was often blocked, and effectively, by a fullback. That’s a bad sign if Sam is going to have to convert to standup linebacker in the NFL. Plus, rookies in the NFL most often have to be special-team stalwarts, and those are most often very good athletes. The marginal athleticism that I saw will be a problem in Sam’s fight to earn a roster spot.

His most successful path to long-term NFL employment could be as a developmental prospect via the practice squad if a team thinks he can make the transition from 4-3 end to 3-4 outside linebacker. I don’t see him as a 4-3 end because of his size, stiffness as an athlete and inability to defeat blocks against the run. I also believe Sam does have some potential (if a team would like him to cut a little weight and work extensively with him) as a possible two-down inside linebacker in the 3-4 defense. Maybe he could convert on third down to a pass-rusher on the defensive line. That’s a big projection to make for a draft pick. Some of his most impressive plays happened earlier in the season when he occasionally was used inside at defensive tackle and showed a knack for beating guards with his quickness. So Sam does have some positional versatility if a team is able to work with him and hone his skills.

Sam’s body type reminds me of three NFL players. In terms of body type, Sam reminds me of three players: LaMarr Woodley (Steelers), Terrell Suggs (Ravens) and Trent Cole (Eagles). Those are very good models. All three are 3-4 outside linebackers, and they exceeded 4.7 seconds in the 40-yard dash. Sam is expected to run in the 4.7 range at the Scouting Combine or his on-campus workout—perhaps as high as a 4.8. Playing those positions is not all about how fast you can run. However, what made Woodley (second round in 2007) and Cole (fifth round in ’05) stand out was their short-area quickness. Woodley (4.42) and Cole (4.22) ran very good times in the short 20-yard shuttle. If Sam can show that at the combine (his film indicates he will not) then he has potential to make it on the next level.

It’s almost unfair to mention Suggs’ name in this conversation as the 10th overall pick in ’03, for several reasons: he plays with outstanding strength (especially against the run) and his production at ArizonaState was phenomenal. But he did run a 4.84 in the 40-yard dash, so it’s an example of speed not mattering. And if Sam is to make it in the NFL, he’s going to have to be that kind of strong-at-the-point-of-attack player who can get home on the pass rush.

My conclusion. Sam was a good player for one season in college. He was productive, so the accolades he received were earned. But being a good college player and becoming a good NFL player are two different things (see Tim Tebow). Sam did well for Missouri with a lot of talent around him. A majority of his production came in three games against inferior competition without a need to show much of a pass-rushing repertoire. He doesn’t show much of what the NFL looks for on special teams, and it’s difficult to project a position for him on the next level. For those reasons, Sam would project to be no better than a mid- to late-round pick. He could go undrafted. To my eyes Sam is decidedly average, with nothing exceptional about his game—though he will be helped by the fact that this draft is not deep with pass rushers, and those are always needed.

But there’s a saying in the NFL: It only takes one team. One team that sees Sam’s ability better than I do, one team that believes that his courage in announcing he is gay before the NFL Scouting Combine is a trait that can help them. On draft weekend, nothing is a surprise. And draft position doesn’t really matter all that much; many undrafted players go on to have long and successful NFL careers. They just need to land in the right situation, with the right coaches, to unlock their potential. It’s happened before, and famously with undersized defensive players like London Fletcher. I don’t see it, but it could happen with Sam.