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Cover Story
NFL’s ‘No-Win’ Situation MEANWHILE …
Defensive end Michael Sam dropped 70 slots in one draft projection after coming out as gay.
Gallaudet’s Talaat Could Join Rare Group in NFL
After a poor NFL scouting combine, a slightly better pro day at the University of Missouri, and months of criticism about athletic deficiencies, it’s possible Michael Sam will spend three days waiting for a call that never comes. Sam, projected in February as a third-round pick, dropped 70 slots in one projection only a few hours after coming out as gay that same month. If the defensive end isn’t selected by any team in this year’s NFL draft, which begins today, former NFL player Wade Davis said the perception won’t be that it was because of Sam’s ability. “The NFL kind of has no win in this situation,” said Davis, who himself came out after his NFL career ended and is now a gayrights activist. “Because if he doesn’t get drafted, it’s going to be positioned that he didn’t get drafted because he’s gay.” Put simply: The NFL would avoid a major public-relations headache if, at any point this weekend, a team uses a draft pick on Sam. If he goes undrafted or isn’t even signed as a free agent, the NFL’s message of progress and preparedness for a gay player becomes a more difficult sell. In February, a Sports Illustrated reporter wrote that one NFL general manager predicted Sam wouldn’t be drafted. This week, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel polled 21 scouts about where they’d be comfortable selecting Sam; five said they wouldn’t use a draft pick on him, and an additional seven said they wouldn’t even sign him to a freeagent contract. None was willing to take him before the fifth round.
JOE ROBBINS (GETTY IMAGES)
NFL
Sam’s Courage to be Honored at ESPYs Michael Sam has been selected the winner of the Arthur Ashe Courage Award. The Missouri defensive end will receive the award given to individuals who transcend sports at The 2014 ESPYs on July 16. Sam joins a prestigious list of winners ranging from Jim Valvano, the first recipient in 1993, to Muhammad Ali, Billie Jean King, Cathy Freeman, Nelson Mandela and Pat Summitt. (AP)
A Poor Combine Hurts Sam’s Stock Sam’s draft stock has been in freefall since a poor showing at the NFL scouting combine, where his vertical leap and 40-yard dash time — he was clocked officially at 4.91 seconds and posted two false starts — raised more scrutiny about how he and his 6-foot-2, 261-pound frame fit in the NFL. Bill Polian, the former longtime NFL executive, said this week during a conference call with reporters that, looking only at his skills, he would project Sam as a third-day draft choice because his size isn’t an ideal fit for either defensive end or outside linebacker, and because Sam is largely seen as a one-note player. (T WP)
Within the margins these past three months have been frequent media leaks about Sam’s character and continual chatter about his physical shortcomings, much of which has come from anony-
mous sources. “When you see anonymous people and people who are leaking stories, they’re afraid that their good old football is going to look a lot different. And it’s not,” said
Davis, who prepped Sam for his February announcement and has met with NFL officials about how to prepare for openly gay players in team locker rooms. “They’ve never seen a game Michael Sam played, but they just assume he’s going to be out there with pom-poms,” Davis said. If Sam is not on an active roster when the season begins in early September, there’s likely to be much more discussion about whether America itself is more accepting of gays than its sports teams. Davis, who played for the Redskins, said he expects the 24-yearold player to be drafted in the fifth or sixth round. He said that Sam didn’t seem worried about the possibilities when they last spoke. “Michael Sam has proven he can play,” Davis said. “He just wants to have the opportunity.” KENT BABB (THE WASHINGTON POST )
Adham Talaat is one step away from his football dream. Last year, he helped lead the 2013 Gallaudet Bison to a 9-0 start and the NCAA Division III playoffs for the first time in the school’s 150-year history. This week, Talaat, a defensive lineman, hopes to be one of only a few hard-of-hearing players ever to be drafted into the NFL. Only a few deaf or severely hard-of-hearing athletes have played in the NFL (the National Association of the Deaf says distinguishing between “deaf” and “hard of hearing” is an individual choice). The first was defensive tackle Bonnie Sloan, who played four games for St. Louis in 1973. Kenny Walker, a former defensive lineman, played two seasons for the Broncos in the early 1990s. Perhaps the most well known is Seahawks fullback Derrick Coleman, who went undrafted in 2012 but signed with Seattle. Coleman became nationally recognized during this year’s NFL playoffs when he was featured in a Duracell commercial telling his story. He visits schools to talk about how being deaf has motivated him. ANNA K ATHERINE CLEMMONS (THE WASHINGTON POST )
JONATHAN NEWTON (TWP)
League will likely receive criticism if no team drafts openly gay player
Adham Talaat is trying to become the first Gallaudet grad in the NFL.