Stop Assuming Michael Sam Was Cut Because He's Gay

When Michael Sam was cut from the St. Louis Rams in August and then from the Dallas Cowboys' practice squad two days ago, the overarching sentiment from his supporters and some media members was a collective "I-told-you-so." The conclusions were quick and simplistic: See, the NFL is not open to gay players. See, being openly gay hurt Sam's chances yet again. See, the NFL is still an old-school bigoted institution, set on preserving the retrograde hyper-masculinity in its locker rooms.

And while those conclusions are not entirely unfounded thanks to the institutional biases of the NFL and the way some media outlets have covered Sam (see Josina Anderson's "report" on Sam respecting his teammates' shower time for ESPN), it's no less unfair to jump on the idea that teams cut Sam because of his sexual orientation. After all, where's the logic in calling the same teams that selected him—fully knowing he is gay— homophobic?

Sam's Rams jersey was the second highest seller among rookies at NFLShop.com, trailing only Cleveland's Johnny Manziel. Sam was among just 10 draftees that the NFL selected to feature on a series of commemorative coins. And when Sam signed with the Cowboys, rules were sidestepped so he could talk to the press—something practice squad players don't do. The Cowboys wanted his voice to be heard. None of that paints a picture of homophobia ruling the decision making of the two teams that signed him.

From the beginning, Rams Coach Jeff Fisher said that he picked Sam because of what he brought to the team. And two days before the news of him being cut by the Cowboys came out, Coach Jason Garrett made clear that his sexuality was a dead issue. There's a way to look at this with cynicism and say that of course they wouldn't admit why they were really letting him go.

But I'm starting to believe Sam wasn't cut because he's an openly gay man. And here's why: When the wait for Sam to be picked in the draft grew longer and longer, Twitter was racking up mentions of him in the thousands every minute, with people enraged as to why the SEC Co-Defensive Player of the Year was being ignored. Yet, his combine performance was, at best, sub-mediocre. Sam finished near the bottom in both the vertical jump and bench press, and his best event, the broad jump, was only good enough for fourteenth-best out of 43 participants. The fact is that the cold, hard data of the combine strongly suggested that he can't play every Sunday.

It was easier to brush all that off as excuses back then. It's harder to do that now after he's had a shot with two teams, both with different requirements and different thought processes.

After the Rams' first preseason game, a 26-24 loss to New Orleans, Fisher praised Sam but also said that he made his share of mistakes. Ultimately, the defensive end couldn't make the cut on one of the deepest and most talented defensive lines in the league. Sam then came to the Cowboys as a practice squad player, a designation that makes any player expendable.

The one thing that went against him initially was the whole debate about how his presence would be a "distraction." People who didn't know what they were talking about, like Tony Dungy, weighed in to say they wouldn't pick him because of the distraction he presents. Thankfully, Dungy doesn't run a team anymore.

But once the Rams picked him and the Cowboys spent seven seamless weeks with him in the backdrop, the argument about the NFL being ready and about a team handling the distraction was pretty much laid to rest. We'll never know for sure to what extent biases played a role and if they must be taken into account, but Sam got two shots and people are finding his failure hard to accept.

In the era of Ray Rice, Greg Hardy, Adrian Peterson, and many others, Michael Sam remains an athlete people love to love. They wanted to see him do better, they wanted him to become a symbol of progress in America's favorite sport. When he didn't quite live up to that role, the people who were invested in what Michael Sam stood for and what his presence on a football field would mean were disappointed. Their disappointment is fair, the assumption that NFL teams cut him for being gay is not.