All things being equal, if there is one roster left and one guy is playing better than the other guy, he should get the spot right?
Alas, life isn’t fair and we know we aren’t all treated equally. Michael Sam got a sack in the Rams last preseason game and it got all the attention from mainstream media (just google Michael Sam Sack). What is getting little attention is that he is being outplayed in camp and in games by an undrafted rookie, if that continues, I guess we will see if the Rams were telling the truth about treating Sam like just every other football player on the team.
Here are the details of the camp battle via USA Today.
Michael Sam, Rams’ rookie defensive end and the first openly gay player ever drafted into the NFL, watched unheralded fellow rookie and roster spot competitor Ethan Westbrooks have another big outing at defensive end in the first half.
Sam, a seventh-round draft pick from Missouri, had an uneventful first half as a member of the kickoff and punt return teams. He played defensively in the second half. In the fourth quarter, he sacked Packers quarterback Matt Flynn for a 10-yard loss on a third-and-19 play from St. Louis 21-yard line. Sam beat the offensive tackle cleanly from his left end position.
But Westbrooks, an undrafted free agent, played with the second team in the opening half and had another productive game.
On consecutive plays in the second quarter, the 6-4, 267-pound Westbrooks made tackles on running plays for gains of zero and two yards. Late in the second quarter, Westbrooks sacked Packers’ backup quarterback Scott Tolzien for a one-yard loss. Westbrooks also played solidly in the second half.
No alerts or stories (besides this one) were made of Westbrooks play. If Sam is good enough to play in the NFL I wish him well, if he only gets his spot because he is gay, I think that is the opposite of what he says he wants to accomplish. The point is that gay or straight, you get treated the same as everyone else, if you are get preferential treatment because you are gay, then you are just taking advantage of your sexuality to get a spot you don’t deserve.