He won’t be the #1 pick, but some of the mock drafts have him sneaking into the first round, taken by the Super Bowl champion Seahawks.
As I’ve said on other threads: Michael Sam’s decision to come out now is aimed at enhancing his NFL prospects, pure and simple. On talent alone, Sam is a mid-to-late round selection and there are plenty of GMs who would only offer a free agent contract.
But, as the “first openly gay prospect,” Sam made himself the focus of the combine and there are plenty of “progressive” organizations in the NFL who would be willing to take a chance on him, including the Steelers, the Patriots and of course, Seattle.
And once he’s in camp, Sam becomes very difficult to cut, for the negative publicity it would bring. I can easily see Michael Sam getting dumped onto the developmental squad (ahead of better players) because the team likes the favorable publicity of having the first gay player.
If that happens, Sam will be poison in the club house. NFL players want to win, and they don’t want the front office doing favors for players who don’t measure up.
But, because he’s gay, I can see Sam hanging around the league for 4-5 years—far longer than his career should last.
No. 3rd round at the very earliest. Probably 4th to UDFA. This was always the case. And most NFL teams knew Sam was gay before he publicly announced it.
As I’ve said on other threads: Michael Sam’s decision to come out now is aimed at enhancing his NFL prospects, pure and simple. On talent alone, Sam is a mid-to-late round selection and there are plenty of GMs who would only offer a free agent contract.
The word around the university is that someone was going to out him and he went proactive.