Michael Sam signs 2yr deal with Alouettes

[B.C.FAN]

As the TSN panel noted, Sam didn't have a training camp or preseason, so he is just getting his feet wet. The Als will be patient with him, if only for the public relations benefit they receive by having him on the roster. Remember, the Als kept Chad Johnson on the field all last season and rarely threw to him.

[Solar Max]

Sam has rotated in for Bowman on a couple of series in the first half. He hasn't done anything of note yet.

I

Was at the game here in Ottawa last night, and agreed, he was mostly invisible. He had no TC as noted above, so must be given some leeway for that. He has skills from what I saw, but lacks ball sense. He will come around IMO.

[Solar Max]

Sam has rotated in for Bowman on a couple of series in the first half. He hasn't done anything of note yet.

I

Was at the game here in Ottawa last night, and agreed, he was mostly invisible. He had no TC as noted above, so must be given some leeway for that. He has skills from what I saw, but lacks ball sense. He will come around IMO.

[Toppy Vann]

See on TSN he might not play this week. He didn't make a tackle.

IF he weren't so high profile I doubt we'd hear anything of this unless we were reading the Gazette. I admit to watching him when the Als were on DEF and thought it odd in that I normally watch the entire play versus focus in a rookie who - the rumours out of the Als in TC - suggest he brought nothing to the camp in the way of surprising skills. He's not Cam Wake reincarnate.

[dupsdell1]

See on TSN he might not play this week. He didn't make a tackle.

IF he weren't so high profile I doubt we'd hear anything of this unless we were reading the Gazette. I admit to watching him when the Als were on DEF and thought it odd in that I normally watch the entire play versus focus in a rookie who - the rumours out of the Als in TC - suggest he brought nothing to the camp in the way of surprising skills. He's not Cam Wake reincarnate.

He is done he will not play again all year and Montreal will cut him, what a waist of publicity .

[TheLionKing]

See on TSN he might not play this week. He didn't make a tackle.

IF he weren't so high profile I doubt we'd hear anything of this unless we were reading the Gazette. I admit to watching him when the Als were on DEF and thought it odd in that I normally watch the entire play versus focus in a rookie who - the rumours out of the Als in TC - suggest he brought nothing to the camp in the way of surprising skills. He's not Cam Wake reincarnate.

He is done he will not play again all year and Montreal will cut him, what a waist of publicity .

Very unlikely he would be given his walking papers. That would look bad on Jim Popp

[sj-roc]

According to this Zurkowsky article in the Gazette, although it was buried at the end, Sam will be on the 1-game injured list (after what he describes as a back injury sustained in practice yesterday) for the Als' game tomorrow at home versus Edm. His roster spot will be taken by Anton Lavarias, one of five Mtl players who were scheduled to come off the 6-game injured list this week.

http://montrealgazette.com/sports/footb ... is-plateau

Rookie rush-end Michael Sam, meanwhile, suffered a back injury in Tuesday’s practice and is on the one-game injured list. But he was scheduled to play, according to Higgins. Sam’s absence now likely means John Bowman will be dressed, providing the Als with a third rush-end. Defensive-back Jerald Brown also is on the one-game injured list.

Sam is indeed absent from Mtl's depth chart for 2015/08/13: http://cfl.uploads.mrx.ca/mtlfr/pdf/dep ... 080407.pdf

[sj-roc]

Another strange twist in the Michael Sam saga as he has announced just within the last hour on twitter that he is stepping away from football citing mental health concerns. The story from Yahoo Sports:

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutd ... 21931.html

Michael Sam says he's stepping away from football, cites mental health
Eric Edholm

Michael Sam's professional football career has taken another strange turn.

Sam, who was playing with the CFL's Montreal Alouettes, announced on Twitter that he's taking a hiatus from football.

The last 12 months have been very difficult for me, to the point where I became concerned with my mental health. Because of this I am going to step away from the game at this time. I thank the Alouettes for this opportunity and hope to be back on the field soon. Thank you all for your understanding and support.

It has been a difficult run for Sam, who was taken in the seventh round of the 2014 draft by the St. Louis Rams but cut after last preseason. After a spell on the Dallas Cowboys' practice squad last fall, he was cut loose and never hooked up with another NFL club.

Then, after struggling to impress at the NFL veterans combine, Sam got his next chance with the Alouettes, and it appeared to be a good landing spot. He was excited, as was the team, and it appeared Sam had a chance to carve out a niche up north in the wide-open Canadian game as a pass rusher.

But Sam left the team early in his tenure under mysterious circumstances, as rumors circulated about his personal life. Sam returned and the team welcomed him back, but after a short spell — and only one game appearance — he was a noticeable absentee for the team's game this week against the Edmonton Eskimos, and more conjecture about his future swirled.

It turns out that the speculation was rooted in some reality with Sam's announcement on Friday.

It's a sad turn for the first openly gay professional football player, but this might be the best thing for him if he's truly experiencing mental-health concerns. And Sam clearly has thought this through by now.

Is his professional football career over? Sam seemed to leave the door cracked a bit, but a return to the NFL seems all but over at this point.

Sam is still on Mtl's 1-game injured list where he was placed for last night's game. It seems likely he will be placed on the team's suspended list with this latest development although this need not be made official until within 24hrs of kickoff of their game here next Thu Aug 20. In retrospect his mental health concerns he cites now were probably also a factor in his initial absence spanning the last week of camp/preseason and Week 1 of the regular season.

[TheLionKing]

Sam is becoming a soap opera.

[sj-roc]

Gary Lawless of the Wpg Free Press just appeared on TSN Sportscentre and says according to Jim Popp, Sam will not be returning to Mtl in 2015. Since my last post in this thread he has been moved from the 1-game IL to the suspended list.

Whatever distractions he might have created — rumours of player dissent over his reported $100k+ salary as a rookie, a guaranteed spot on the 46-man roster, being excused from camp for 2wks — should be over with now. Looking more and more like this could be the end of Sam's football-playing journey.

[Toppy Vann]

http://news.yahoo.com/michael-sam-leave ... --spt.html

This is sounding more and more like a young, confused man who has put himself in a spotlight that few other rookie players have ever had to be in.

"The last 12 months have been very difficult for me, to the point where I became concerned with my mental health," Sam tweeted Friday. "Because of this I am going to step away from the game at this time."

Quite frankly (and I don't care about his sexuality) I was surprised and questioning why he chose to come out as he did - the timing was awkward, odd and it didn't seem grounded in some sort of necessity like he was going to be exposed by some vicious tabloid gossip.

What he created was a spotlight and focus on him that eventually led his HC Tom Higgins to face the media on his return to the Als to say the player is getting testy as he know he has done nothing and it's not comfortable to being interviewed all the time and those who play aren't. He wants to get out of the coverage until he does something.

I appreciate that experts say this is best as then you can live true to yourself but timing left me wondering why then. I am now wondering if Jeffrey below has it right (whoever that is) where he says he might have been drafted just because he was gay. I certainly don't fault the Als for taking a look nor letting him back BUT if that Mike Marginal who was not high profile and did nothing in camp and wanted to show he was in shape, skilled or committed and wanted to go home for personal reasons, he'd be cut and not brought back.

As a career management decision his leaving (IF he ever really wants football back) was a dumb choice.

When he said recently how committed he was to football, it sounded to me like he was trying to convince himself of that and he isn't convinced.

This comment if accurate might say it all:

Jeffrey 3 minutes ago

His actions are proving all the team that passed on him were 100% correct. Many people cried he got drafted so late because he was gay. The only reason he got drafted is because he was gay. He was overrated in college and coming out of college. I know he was co defensive player of the year in the sec but anyone who watches football knows he wasnt even the best player on his teams d-line or second best. He was the 3rd or 4th best. He was the player the blockers payed least attention too as far as blocking and chipping. Combine that with his high motor and you will get over inflated statistics. That is exactly what happened with Sams. The SEC co-defensive poy is has zero significance in what type of nfl player he was going to be

The TC rumours were apparently players scratching their heads at how this guy was so highly rated. It was also suggested he was not in shape.

If he were just a regular rookie in his first game, he'd not have had the focus on him as he'd get a comment but not a lot of coverage and he'd be able to develop.

This from the Gazette's Herb Z would be hard to swallow when you're on a team or especially on the PR:

Michael Sam quits Alouettes again

HERB ZURKOWSKY, MONTREAL GAZETTE


For the first five regular-season games, Sam was on the Als’ 46-man roster, meaning he received his regular game cheque. He was signed to a two-year contract, and was reportedly scheduled to earn $100,000 this season.

http://montrealgazette.com/sports/footb ... ttes-again

[DanoT]

Sam's football career is over. Let's hope the next openly gay player is more talented and that talent is the focus, not his sexual orientation.

[Toppy Vann]

Now this story on Michael Sam might explain how he failed with the Als and in football.

Kate Fagan's story should give heart and wise counsel to other gay athletes who might think Sam's failures were due to his sexuality versus his failure to show the right level of talent and skill when given every chance to do so.

Fagan has written an important article as I was taken aback by another story the other day that suggested his failures meant that homophobia were issues. They might be and likely are for some - but this was not the Sam problem.

http://espn.go.com/espnw/news-commentar ... ceed-field

MICHAEL SAM NEEDED TO PUT ALL HIS FOCUS ON FOOTBALL TO SUCCEED ON THE FIELD

By Kate Fagan | Aug 17, 2015
espnW.com

As I have said I thought it odd that he decided to make his sexuality an issue when he did - timing seemed a bit odd to me.

If this is true he snapped at every contract opportunity in front of him versus focused on football like every other of the 240 professional teams players were doing FULL TIME you have to conclude that this is one poorly advised young man.

Then writing his Als contract to guarantee to be on the 46 man roster - YIKES - that was good negotiating but bad on the player when he wasn't doing his job.

Ever since Sam publicly announced he is gay, on Feb. 10, 2014, everyone kept talking about whether he -- or more specifically, his sexuality -- would be a distraction in the NFL. But we actually never discovered the answer to that question. Because the truth is that Sam distracted himself.

Actually, that's not precise enough: Sam allowed himself to be distracted.

That's the irony of this situation.

He performed poorly at the rookie combine. He was run ragged making media and commercial appearances in the months leading up to, and after, the 2014 NFL draft. At the NFL's veteran combine, in March, Sam ran a 5.07 in the 40-yard dash, killing his short-term NFL chances. The team of advisors around him jumped at every contract placed in front of them, including appearing on ABC's "Dancing with the Stars," which ended only one month before Sam signed with the Alouettes.

Michael Sam taught us valuable lessons. They just aren't what we expected them to be.