NFL teams don't like distractions, especially those who are marginal prospects. If you can play, you can play. If you are a long term project or a sometimes functional backup, you better not be a distraction. If you are a media circus without getting 10 sacks a season, it's not happening.
Michael Sam is a circus because of a homo obsessed media. He wasn't good enough to play. Johnny Football is a circus and will be out of a job soon as he can't get the job done. I'll get yelled at for saying this, but Tim Tebow was a media circus and didn't get the job done.
All he did was win 7 out of 8 games and go to the playoffs. And many of his wins were hard fought at the end. I like these Tebow wasn’t any good types. God only knows how he would have matured. Sure wish Denver had him now, going into next year.
Hammer, meet nail. There are lots of players who never break that code and wonder why “lesser” athletes spend years in the league and they can’t make the roster out of training camp. In most cases, the marginal guys who make it understand the game isn’t about them (individually) and they’d better work their butts off to make the team and stay there.
As a marginal player, Michael Sam and his media feeding frenzy simply weren’t worth the time or trouble. When I was an ROTC instructor at an SEC school, there was a young man on the football team who was an average prospect out of high school; in fact, he was signed because the team was struggling at the time and had just experienced a coaching change. The player worked his way up to starting LT by his senior year, but was undrafted. Signed as a free agent, worked hard, made the roster and eventually spent 10 years n the league, while many of the “stars” from his graduating class flopped.
Knew another kid from the same team, same era who was (arguably) a much better player. Spent a year on the practice squad, then got into a major altercation in training camp the next year. Got cut the next day and never played with another NFL team. Attitude, conduct and work ethic still count for a lot if you’re one of those guys who fights for a roster spot every year.