I Don't Understand About Sam

Yesterday, I heard the news for the first time about Michael Sam, the defensive end for the University of Missouri football team who won the Defensive Player of the Year award for the SEC, one of the toughest (if not THE toughest) conference in college football.  He shared the honor with another player, Alabama's C.J. Mosely, but that in no way diminishes his accomplishment.

I'm no fan of college football, but to excel in that particular arena is difficult, to say the least.  In the NFL, a standout player is judged out of a field of about 1,700 players.  In the college ranks, there are over 65,000 players in Division 1 alone.  If you're the best, you're the best of the best, you've worked harder and performed at a very high level consistently for an entire season of competition, as well as taking on a full load of college courses.

There's no shirking.  If your grades fail, you're in danger of being tossed off the team.  If you miss a day in the gym, don't watch your diet, fall behind in sleep, succumb to the temptations of drugs or alcohol, or let the mental stress get to you, you're going to be a step behind on the field.

Michael Sam didn't shirk.  He completed his degree in Parks, Recreation and Tourism and posted a phenomenal senior year on the field; 11 1/2 sacks and a forced fumble in the Cotton Bowl that was returned for a touchdown and secured the victory for Missouri.

And now the word from some of the decision makers in the NFL is that Sam wouldn't be a very good player, that he wouldn't mesh in an NFL locker room, that he would be a "distraction."  Why would anyone in the NFL say that?  The NFL is made up of former college football players who graduated from college and moved on to the next level.  The best players are chosen to move on, and Sam has proven that he is among the best of the best.

Why would the NFL say that?  That he would be a "distraction?"

Is there a team in the NFL that wouldn't want a defensive end capable of getting to the quarterback 11 1/2 times in a season?  A defensive end who has the discipline to crack the books while keeping himself fit and healthy in order to fit into a system that posted a 12-2 record in one of the toughest college football conferences?

Apparently there are.

The NFL over the years has been able to tolerate some questionable characters.  Michael Vick, who plays today, had a history of being involved with dogfighting and the mistreatment of animals.  Ray Lewis went on trial for murder.  Plaxico Burress accidentally shot himself in the leg while carrying a glock pistol in his pocket into a nightclub.  Marshawn Lynch had his driver's license revoked after hitting a pedestrian and speeding off back in 2008.  Warren Moon was a wife-beater.

As a matter of fact, if you google NFL player arrests, you'll find dozens of drug-related charges, battery charges, at least one case of child abuse, and a plethora of DUI's, DWI's and various criminal charges that run the spectrum.  Many of these players still got to play.  Ray Lewis, after his murder trial (which I guess wasn't much of a distraction), went on to be a Super Bowl MVP.

But Michael Sam wouldn't fit into this group for some reason.  He would be a distraction, so much so that a team wouldn't be able to maintain unit cohesiveness, succeed, and win games.

Although the University of Missouri was able to do that.  They won games, they went 12-2 and won the Cotton Bowl.

If I had a say in what decisions an NFL team would make, say my beloved Buffalo Bills; if I had the opportunity to draft a player who could make a significant contribution to our defense, who could fit into a system, work hard, rise to the top of his position and help us win games, I would draft Michael Sam in a Missouri minute.

But I'm no NFL professional scout, I'm not a coach, I have no background in such things.  I guess I don't understand what goes on in an NFL locker room.  I don't recognize a distraction when I see one.

I guess there's a lot of things I don't see.