Sam will get his chance with the Alouettes
Jim Popp, the general manager of the Montreal Alouettes, was asked Friday if he thought Michael Sam, his marquee signing, was landing in Canada because his sexual orientation had made it more difficult for him to find work in the National Football League.
“No idea, couldn’t begin to answer that,” Popp said. “And, personally? I don’t think so. I don’t know, but I don’t think so.”
The question has lingered over Sam, the 25-year-old defensive end, for more than a year, since he announced he was gay. He made the announcement before the 2014 NFL draft, where his stock suspiciously plummeted; a projected early-round pick taken way down in the seventh round. He went to St. Louis, then Dallas, and then into limbo. All the while, Popp waited. “If he can come up and be successful in our league, it may take that to sway some people to believe he can play on their team at that position,” he said, after announcing a contract that was a year in the making. “Right now, there’s probably some doubters, without ever having seen him.”
On Friday, the Alouettes announced they had signed Sam to a two-year contract. The first openly gay player to be drafted in the NFL will report to camp on Wednesday, a day after an introductory news conference in Montreal.
His jersey was already being advertised on the team website, on sale for $109.95.
“Today is another indication of how open and progressive the CFL is — consistent with our rich and storied history of great football tradition,” new CFL commissioner Jeffrey Orridge said in a release.
Robin Church is an associate professor in the Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University in Toronto. He said the signing would help “continue the conversation” around gay and lesbian workplace issues, but perhaps not to the same extent that it did in the U.S.
“Because, in Canada, a lot of this has been sorted out, at least at a high level, in terms of legislation and workplace policies in comparison to much of the United States — where there’s still not legislation protecting people from being fired simply for being gay or lesbian,” he said.
The CFL has already fined more than one player for public commentary disparaging Sam and his sexuality, including one (now former) Alouettes player. Arland Bruce published a long, homophobic message on social media last year, urging Sam to “submit to God.”
Maurice Price, then a member of the Calgary Stampeders, was also fined. Price wrote his faith “won’t allow me to ACCEPT what took place” over the NFL draft weekend.
“I was speaking about homosexuality in general,” Price later told The Calgary Sun. “As a Christian, obviously it’s not something I can condone or accept.”
“Some of his teammates in Montreal have been very vocal in their support, but maybe there’s some others who are not quite as on board with this,” Church said. “And I don’t know if this is necessarily a good thing, or just the way things work, they may have gotten the signal that voicing opposition is no longer acceptable.”
That is not the same as achieving acceptance, he conceded.
“Sometimes, that’s maybe the best you can hope for in the interim,” he said. “At least people aren’t going to be messing with you, that they’ll shut up and leave you alone.”
Montreal players, Popp said, would be accepting of their new teammate. “I think most guys are, and if they’re not, they should be,” he said. “And if they’re not, then we’ll help get them educated. It’s that simple.”
Sam has not appeared in a regular season game in professional football. He was cut out of training camp last year with the St. Louis Rams, despite recording 11 tackles and three sacks through the pre-season.
The Dallas Cowboys signed him to the practice roster, from which he did not advance.
Sam is 6-foot-2, 260 pounds, and has the potential, in Popp’s mind, to follow the path set by other pass-rushers who found success in Canada after struggling to find a home in the NFL. In that best-case scenario, he could become another Elfrid Payton, or even another Cameron Wake, whose dominant play with the B.C. Lions led him back to a starring role in the U.S.
For now, though, Sam still has to make the team.
“This is a signing like any other free agent,” Popp said. “I don’t care if they’re street free agents, or if they’re CFL free agents that come to your team. They’ve got to come in, they’ve got to perform and they’ve got to make your team.”
Sam does, he admitted, have a higher public profile than most free agents. “At the end of the day, as I told him, I just want him to relax, be himself and go out and compete,” Popp said. “And it will all work itself out.”
At the end of the day, as I told him, I just want him to relax, be himself and go out and compete.