Michael Sam rides off to Montreal
- Thread starter dcmissle
- Start date
amarshal2 said:
Yeah, I think Sam has done enough that someone would pick him up. I mean, with the Smith suspension the Niners need a body to start the season so San Francisco makes sense, football-wise.
I don't think Fisher making a point has anything to do with it. Whenever I've watched a Rams game this preseason I see Sam making a play. He's earning his reps and a roster spot.soxfan121 said:
HomeRunBaker said:
Don't misunderstand - that is obviously 99% of the battle. If Sam were not making plays, Fisher wouldn't keep him.
But a small part of this is Jeff Fisher working on his legacy. He's a very interesting character and someone who has strong ideas about what the NFL is and can become, as evidenced by his years on the Competition Committee and his past as player. Part of why Michael Sam is successful is because of how Jeff Fisher has handled the whole situation, from draft through training camp. All things being equal (which, they most assuredly are not in this ground-breaking situation) I'm not sure Sam's excellent play on the field earns him a roster spot. The Rams are loaded with DL talent and have had Ethan Westbrooks (a UDFA) complicate things by making more plays than Sam during the preseason.
Yet, Sam's spot is nearly secure because Jeff Fisher is A.) building the best team possible and B.) making a point about how the NFL (and all of sports and society) should be about character and (football) ability, not sexual orientation.
Sam won't make the PS imo. He was likely cut from St. Louis because of their outstanding depth on the DL. I think there are a lot of teams looking to shore up their depth on the DL, and they could do a lot worse than a guy that was as productive as Sam was in the pre-season.
Sam looked good in pre-season, but Ethan Westbrooks did as well, and showed himself to be capable of playing in more spots. The Rams have one of the best defensive lines in the NFL, so Sam not earning a spot definitely doesn't mean he can't play somewhere.
They would love to get him on the practice squad, but I'm guessing someone gives him a shot. Good luck to him.
They would love to get him on the practice squad, but I'm guessing someone gives him a shot. Good luck to him.
I wonder just how many teams are interested in Sam. There wasn't a single team willing to invest a 6th rounder in him a couple months ago. He did impress in a specialist pass rushing role but his inability to give you anything on special teams hurts him.
Fisher could not be classier in PC:
" I was pulling for Mike. He did everything we asked. We told him when drafted that it would be a tough go"
This will do Sam a ton of good. It's a meritocracy and Rams were simply too deep. I'm sorry I was wrong in the prediction.
" I was pulling for Mike. He did everything we asked. We told him when drafted that it would be a tough go"
This will do Sam a ton of good. It's a meritocracy and Rams were simply too deep. I'm sorry I was wrong in the prediction.
HomeRunBaker said:
After how he played in the PS, I'd bet my house he'll be picked up by someone. Very little doubt about that. As for teams not be willing to invest in him a few months ago, they were clearly wrong. One can only speculate as to why.
I wouldn't say most if any of the teams who passed on him were "wrong". He played well in the PS but showed most of the flaws that made people pass on him: weak against the run, can't move inside or stand up limiting flexibility can't contribute on special teams.Tony C said:
His ceiling seems to be rotation pass rushing DE, he'll probably make a team, but he's a guy who is likely to be fighting for the last few spots on the roster every year. He got beat out by an undrafted rookie.
Tony C said:
There isn't anything "clear" to be gained from backups having success against backups. The Brown he beat was Joe Thomas' backup, playing out of position on the right. The 2nd sack was also just cleaning up the play that somebody else made. The Packer he beat is coming back from catastrophic leg injury and hasn't really played in more than 3 years.
If you want to argue that he didn't get a chance against real NFL starters, okay, sure, but that is par for the course for a 6th rounder.
Cellar-Door said:
Well, really we'll have to agree to disagree since it's meaningless to argue based on such a small sample size and mostly against inferior competition (though not entirely). That said, that's not what his SEC pedigree, sacks, and 6 tackles against the run in his last game show. I'm far from claiming all that is determinative, and I'm quite certain the Rams gave him a fair shot and he got beat out by some tough competition at a spot where they're deep fair and square. But I do think he clearly showed enough that he'll be picked up over the next few days...on that we'll know shortly. Certainly he showed more than, for example, Michael Buchanan ever has (and we've mostly only seen Buchanan against back-ups, too).
Papelbon's Poutine said:
How so? If a player is claimed, he must go to the 53-man roster. All practice squad players must clear waivers at some point. Am I missing something?
I split this topic out into its own thread as I think it probably gets more attention than any number of other cuts around the league.
I'm pretty sure he will get brought in by someone (if not end up on the Rams practice squad). Nobody wanted to immediately tie up a spot on the 53 man roster at this point, though.Pete Williams said:
There would be some interesting numbers on the guys who are cut on the 53-man deadline by one team and claimed by another. Anyone ever looked at that? Cut again immediately for the PS? Kept on the roster? Earned a role on the new team?
Some team probably does better than the others; maybe due to a good professional scout and strong pre-draft reports?
Some team probably does better than the others; maybe due to a good professional scout and strong pre-draft reports?
Maybe the same reason they didn't draft him in the 6th round? There have been a ton of DE's cut in the past 48 hours......they could simply not have liked him as a player or dare I say for his intangibles. The one team that took a shot waived him......this doesn't bode well for his chances if the Rams don't add him to their PS.Tangled Up In Red said:
He's gay and teams ran away from him because of it at the draft and are doing it now despite him showing that he should be playing on Sundays. You guys can get out from under the rock and acknowledge this it's ok.MarcSullivaFan said:
Edit: I'm assuming everyone agrees that it's a no-brainer for the Rams to add Sam to their practice squad tomorrow, correct?
I agree with you, HRB. That said, I thought that there might be some teams that looked at it from purely a non-football level who thought that there would be legitimate distractions from the hullabaloo about the first openly gay player would be too much to make his on-field contributions worth it who would now think that they could take him on a pure football level since the Rams had taken the initial media attention from being the first to have an OGP n camp.HomeRunBaker said:
And more cynically, now that the Rams have absorbed what little there was in that regard, I thought a team might sign him, even if for only Week 1, to lay claim to having the first OGP in the regular season.
HomeRunBaker said:
In the last 48 hours Willie McGinest, Heath Evans, Charley Casserly, and Jamie Dukes on the NFL Network all agreed: Michael Sam lacks the size and strength to play the run well, lacks the speed to switch to LB, doesn't play well on special teams, and lacks any specialness in the one skill he supposed to have: getting to the quarterback. That's why he's without an NFL job right now. It has nothing to do with anything else.
I haven't seen anything to indicate he was more than a 50/50 shot to make a 53-man roster. Like Fisher said, he came in and did what he was asked to do, but wasn't good enough to win a specific roster spot. These 43 pass-rush defensive ends... there are a lot of them out there and they play 20-30 snaps per game. There's huge competition and Sam isn't an elite athlete. It's one of the positions where college success doesn't translate well.
He'll probably get a practice squad spot somewhere. He'll have access to NFL training and he'll get to practice against NFL offensive tackles. This is not really a setback for someone with his grade.
It's a shame the Rams are getting heat over the sexuality angle. They don't deserve it.
He'll probably get a practice squad spot somewhere. He'll have access to NFL training and he'll get to practice against NFL offensive tackles. This is not really a setback for someone with his grade.
It's a shame the Rams are getting heat over the sexuality angle. They don't deserve it.
Stitch01 said:
That's probably a good thing. It gives him a chance to find a team with a better long term chance of making the 53.
So this entire productiom was a complete full of shit sideshow by Fisher? Yeah all football related.....right. Well done Rams.Stitch01 said:
History is filled, and I mean filled, with draft picks, and especially late round ones, who don't make their draft team's 53 or PS. Is it that unreasonable to think that this guy is just another one of that massive group?