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Ready or not, NFL, Michael Sam is coming

Let's find out.

Probably for the last ten years, and the last five for sure, I've been periodically asked how an NFL locker room would react to an openly gay player. It may have been when the issue of gay marriage was in the courts and NFL players like Chris Kluwe and Brendon Ayanbadejo were outspoken in their support of those rights.  Or it could have been when NBA player Jason Collins announced that he was homosexual, becoming the first active player in the four major U.S. pro sports to do so.

Michael Sam (AP Photo)

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No matter what the trigger was at the time, the same questions always persisted:  How would an NFL locker room treat an openly gay player?  What kind of reaction would he face from fans?  And, perhaps most importantly, would it affect his standing with the team in the eyes of the front office executives and coaching staff that make decisions regarding playing time?
Those questions will be asked non-stop for the next few weeks or months and then they should hopefully go away forever. Why?  Because we are about to find out.

The news on Sunday night that former Missouri defensive end Michael Sam, a first team All-American and the co-Defensive Player of the Year in the vaunted SEC, is gay is sure to send shockwaves around the NFL.  Not necessarily the teams themselves as it appears many of them were already aware, but rather the players, fans, and media that found out on Sunday for the first time.

So I'll give my answer to those questions, likely for the last time since it appears we should all be finding out the answers to these questions soon:

How will Michael Sam be received in an NFL locker room?

I think for the most part pretty well, but I can't be sure. I retired in 2008 and it is clear to me in the six years since the climate has changed significantly. There weren't outspoken players in favor of gay rights like Kluwe and Ayanbadejo back then. Being gay is much more socially acceptable now than it was even as recently as 2008 and an NFL locker room is a microcosm of society on some level.

Just because it is much more accepted now than it was then doesn't mean it is unanimous, however.  Far from it, in fact.  There are still plenty of places and plenty of families that have an issue with homosexual behavior.  My experience tells me that a healthy portion of NFL players are from those places and those families.

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"I think there'll be varying degrees of opinions and views for whatever team he ends up with," former Tampa Bay Bucs and Indianapolis Colts defensive tackle Anthony "Booger" McFarland told me.
"There will be some guys that don't care at all.  Some won't care, but would still rather not have to deal with it or be around it.  And there'll be some that really don't want to have to deal with it."

I highly doubt any teammate would be outwardly derisive towards Sam.  Much more likely is just a level of uneasiness for some of the players.  Keep in mind some of them have never knowingly met a gay man. 

Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma recently verbalized that in an interview with Andrea Kremer of NFL Network:


As much as the NFL locker room is a microcosm of society, it is still a truly unique workplace.

Just ask Jonathan Martin.    

What kind of reaction will he get from fans?

This is the biggest unknown for me. Because a large portion of society is now accepting of Sam's sexuality, my hope is that he will not face a lot of vitriol when he takes the field.
There will still be some out there that don't like it and don't approve. Will they be vocal about it? If they are vocal, how will the rest of the crowd react?

I have no idea, which is why this is going to be such an interesting social experiment.

If a guy like Eagles’ wide receiver Riley Cooper could get through a season relatively unscathed after getting caught saying what he did on video during training camp, then I'd like to think

Sam will be fine.

Conversely, this past weekend there was a 53-year-old Texas Tech basketball fan that admittedly called a 20-year-old basketball player for Oklahoma State a "piece of crap" and got in his face, leading the player to shove him.

Incidents like that make me wonder how a horde of drunken idiots will conduct themselves toward Sam.

How does this news affect his standing with the teams?

It doesn't help. Though they'll never admit it publicly, the debate in NFL draft rooms will be whether the value that Sam provides as a mid-to-late round draft choice is worth the attention and potential distractions that will come with it.

For most of those teams, the answer will be no.

For some of the same reasons teams were and are hesitant to sign Tim Tebow as a backup or were hesitant to pull the trigger on Manti Te'o in last year's draft, there is going to be a level of concern regarding what the media crush will really be like.

NFL general managers and coaches crave certainty and despise the unknown. That's the entire reason for the scouting process in the first place.  They want to know as much as they possibly can about a prospect's health history, background, work habits and the like.

Unfortunately for Sam, there is no way anybody can know for sure what the locker room, fan and media reaction will be. That's the unknown that teams don't like.

Plus, let's not kid ourselves into thinking that all NFL coaches and scouts are among the most progressive people in society. Some are. Many are not.

The question is whether one of the decision-makers gives Sam's grade a solid bump because of the strength of character and conviction he has shown in making this public announcement. 

Will that bump be enough for that general manager to select Sam?  After all, it only takes one team to take Sam in the third, fourth, or fifth rounds like the Denver Broncos took Tebow in the first round knowing the level of attention that would come with that selection.

I guess we're about to find out.

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