khwiii Posted March 24, 2016 Report Share Posted March 24, 2016 Story Did the Rams avoid 'Hard Knocks' in 2014 by drafting Michael Sam?Marc SerotaBy Chris BahrMar 24, 2016 at 8:40a ETIt was announced Wednesday that the Los Angeles Rams would be the teamfeatured on "Hard Knocks" this season. But one report suggests the franchise made a deal with the league to avoid being the team featured on the show in 2014.Longtime NFL reporter Howard Balzer, in a report for 590 The Fan in St. Louis, writes that the NFL allowed the Rams -- then based in St Louis -- to avoid the HBO series because they agreed to draft Michael Sam.Sam, of course, announced he was gay prior to the 2014 draft, creating a flurry of speculation about if/when he would be drafted. As the reigning SEC Co-Defensive Player of the Year, Sam was considered a late-round talent. Balzer reports the NFL didn't want Sam to go undrafted, so it made a deal with the Rams, who selected him in the seventh round (249th overall). The Rams were just 90 miles down the road from the University of Missouri, where Sam played in college.Balzer notes that Rams head coach Jeff Fisher was opposed to having his team featured on "Hard Knocks" in 2014, making it odd that he would embrace the opportunity just two years later.Fisher addressed the situation on ESPN's "Mike and Mike" on Thursday. Here's part of that conversation, via Pro Football Talk: “That in itself is absolutely absurd, it’s 100 percent incorrect,” Fisher said. “I was really taken aback by those comments. It’s insulting, from my standpoint, as it relates to Michael. We had three seventh-round picks. When we drafted Michael he was the best player on the board. Who in their right mind would think that you give up a draft choice to avoid doing something like that?” Sam was cut by the Rams before the start of the 2014 regular season and then joined the Cowboys' practice squad. After being released by Dallas, he signed with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League but played in only one game before leaving the team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-GoBengals- Posted March 31, 2016 Report Share Posted March 31, 2016 i assumed they got a fly because they drafted him, not the other way around, nfl wouldnt want and entire hard knocks series centereed around a mediocre late round player for all the wrong publicity reasons.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khwiii Posted March 31, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2016 I just thought it set a bad precedent if true. More or less a draft pick just so the shield didn't look homophobic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hooky Posted April 1, 2016 Report Share Posted April 1, 2016 It looks like this off-season push for a re-visited discussion of the Michael Sam controversy fizzled quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T-Dub Posted April 2, 2016 Report Share Posted April 2, 2016 a mediocre late round playerThat "mediocre late round player" was an SEC DPOY. He had 11 tackles & 3 sacks in the preseason for the Rams. The fact he wasn't drafted until the 7th round, and was later cut despite those numbers, is pretty fucking suspect IMO. Every team in the NFL has gay players, only difference is this dude had rumors swirling around him before the draft & decided not to live his life in the closet.All that aside, the deal involving him & the Rams avoiding an HBO series isn't so much about Sam as it is yet another example of the sort of shady backroom deals that have become the hallmark of Goodell's NFL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hooky Posted April 2, 2016 Report Share Posted April 2, 2016 That "mediocre late round player" was an SEC DPOY. He had 11 tackles & 3 sacks in the preseason for the Rams. The fact he wasn't drafted until the 7th round, and was later cut despite those numbers, is pretty fucking suspect IMO. Every team in the NFL has gay players, only difference is this dude had rumors swirling around him before the draft & decided not to live his life in the closet.All that aside, the deal involving him & the Rams avoiding an HBO series isn't so much about Sam as it is yet another example of the sort of shady backroom deals that have become the hallmark of Goodell's NFL.So how do you explain a lot of Heisman winners getting drafted late and QBs that won holding clipboards for 4 years then falling off the face of the earth?Then explain to me why such a great player couldn't cut it in the fucking Canadian league for less than a half of a season.Then tell me if you would keep a Bengals player that had 3 4th quarter third string sacks and 11 tackles in pre-season.Is it really worth putting your football knowledge credibility at risk to make a political statement. College talent is not the same as pro talent. You should know that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
|Lucid| Posted April 3, 2016 Report Share Posted April 3, 2016 I just thought it set a bad precedent if true. More or less a draft pick just so the shield didn't look homophobic. What? Who said anything about a draft pick? Maybe I am missing something here, but I thought the accusation was that they didn't have to do Hard Knocks if they drafted him. Which is suspect anyway considering that to this point, I don't believe any team has been "forced" to do Hard Knocks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khwiii Posted April 3, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 3, 2016 What? Who said anything about a draft pick? Maybe I am missing something here, but I thought the accusation was that they didn't have to do Hard Knocks if they drafted him. Which is suspect anyway considering that to this point, I don't believe any team has been "forced" to do Hard Knocks.More or less, the article says that the NFL may have given them a pass on hard knocks for drafting someone who was never going to make the team. (Thus, wasting a draft pick.) The implication is that the NFL needed/wanted Sam to be drafted, because of the blowout if he wasn't drafted with the LGBT community. I don't understand what's hard to understand about that equation. Sam was NEVER going to make that team. They had so many defensive lineman, even the commentators wondered why they would draft him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T-Dub Posted April 3, 2016 Report Share Posted April 3, 2016 So how do you explain a lot of Heisman winners getting drafted late and QBs that won holding clipboards for 4 years then falling off the face of the earth? Who was the last Heisman winner that didn't get drafted until the 7th round? Or SEC DPOY, if you want to actually compare apples to apples here. Then explain to me why such a great player couldn't cut it in the fucking Canadian league for less than a half of a season. Who said he was great? Quit trying to put words in my mouth. The man himself said he was having off-field problems. You sound overly emotional about this. Take a breath. Then tell me if you would keep a Bengals player that had 3 4th quarter third string sacks and 11 tackles in pre-season. Oh, all his sacks & tackles were in the 4th quarter against 3rd stringers? Did you actually look that up, or are you just pulling that out of your ass? Even if that's true it'd be more than Margus Hunt has accomplished, so I guess that answers your question. Is it really worth putting your football knowledge credibility at risk to make a political statement. College talent is not the same as pro talent. You should know that. Oh no, not my football knowledge credibility! Are you fuckin serious guy? Do you read the other threads on this site? Go find a draft thread about how draft pick ______ is better than LaFell if you want to talk about college vs pro talent, that perspective would actually do some good there. "Football knowledge credibility"... You must have forgotten a in there somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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