I can't even imagine being a gay kid these days. Growing up the only gay people I knew of were all victims of disease on TV. Life truly does get better!

At this link- http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/10429030/michael-sam-missouri-tigers-says-gay

I doubt he would be drafted before the 4th round as a project. Of course lots of guys have been too short or too slow for the NFL and have succeed anyways. Then again lots of all everything players in college have flamed out in the NFL.

He's a player! There would be no questions about his being drafted if he had not announced he was gay. As you stated, there are many players who don't meet the statistical model that NFL GMs use. The fact is that players have to be seen in action to know anything.

He played in the SEC. That's still different from the NFL, but he wasn't playing against scrubs. Game in and game out he faced a lot of talented players. One of the reasons GMs say these things is to get a player dropping in the draft. They play up his negatives knowing full well that he can play and that those negatives are not as daunting as they seem.

What you will probably see now is a lot more negative commentary from unnamed GMs. They will do this so that if he isn't drafted, they can claim his ability was the reason he wasn't drafted. It gives them so-called plausible deniability.

If he isn't drafted, that will be on the NFL.

capable of exceeding expectations in that regard, as he likely has his entire life.

He grew up in small-town Texas (Hitchcock, between Houston and Galveston). Pop. less than 7,000. He's been mostly out much of his college career; his teammates and coaches knew but kept his secret from the media.

There will be plenty of obstacles for him. There always are for pioneers. But he's cracked the last barrier of publicly tolerated and encouraged homophobia: the football locker room.

WAY better career than Peyton Manning when they were drafted #1 & #2 back in the late 90s!

There is good reason why I am not a NFL general manager.

The Bears have Shea McClellan who is a tweener like this kid. He sucks in the Tampa Two. Should be in a 3-4.

Teams have to realize who can play in what system. If a player isn't suited for a particular system, trade him. Some can't adapt through no fault of their own.

and I think there's a possibility that no NFL team will have the guts to draft him. From a Sports Illustrated article:

"But from a purely football perspective, his decision to come out prior to May's NFL draft will make his path to the league daunting, eight NFL executives and coaches told SI.com.
In blunt terms, they project a significant drop in Sam's draft stock, a publicity circus and an NFL locker room culture not prepared to deal with an openly gay player. Sam, the SEC Defensive Player of the Year, was projected as a mid- to late-round draft pick prior to his announcement."

The NFL will be completely embarrassed if he is not drafted, but I think it might happen. He's a very brave person, and doesn't deserve to get screwed by the NFL.

He is young and healthy. Even with his shortcomings, he has proven he can play in the SEC. Sam wasn't playing against scrubs even it isn't the pros.

If teams were willing to handle Tebow, who had a considerably loud and pushy following, they can handle Sam. Make rules and set boundaries for the press. If they let the media run wild, it will be on purpose to prove what a circus it is. It won't be easy, but it can be done.

I dearly hope there will be several teams and owners who will express interest before the draft. That would be great.

In addition, there has always been talk that several other NFL players who are in the closet would step up if something like this came to pass. It's time for them to step up too.

unfortunately, I think the NFL owners are made up mostly of right wing, redneck m(b)illionaires, and they are mostly all gutless morons. If Art Rooney still ran the Steelers, he might have the nerve. Not at all sure about the rest of the bunch. The reactions I've seen from several players is not encouraging.

I wish Al Davis was still here. He would probably have loved to do it.

The Maras might. It's hard to tell who would because people have had relationships with LGBT people that aren't known. Roger Goodell 's brother is gay.

I fotgot about Al Davis, he'd do it just to piss the other owners off. Maybe Goodell's brother can lobby him.

The Raiders were a mess in the latter years and it has continued. The old Al Davis would be great.

I have no idea if the Steelers need whatever position Sam plays, but the Steelers seem to be pretty progressive.

Time will tell if he gets picked up and if he does, if it will be in a meaningful role