In 2014, the St. Louis Rams (now the Los Angeles Rams) reportedly agreed to draft openly gay defensive end Michael Sam. In exchange, the NFL agreed to keep the team off the HBO reality show “Hard Knocks.”
Veteran NFL reporter Howard Balzer wrote an article for St. Louis’ 590 The Fan that claimed, according to a source, the NFL did not want to answer to the scrutiny that would follow if Sam was not drafted by any team.
Sam was the 2013 Southeastern Conference “Defensive Co-Player of the Year” at the University of Missouri, but some draft analysts were projecting that he was a late round talent or might not get drafted at all.
Balzer wrote that a possible reason the Rams were selected as the destination to pick Sam was because of the Rams proximity (at the time) to where people knew Sam the most, Missouri.
Ironically, the new Los Angeles Rams have agreed to do the “Hard Knocks” show for the NFL and HBO this coming training camp, which begins in early August.
The news of the Rams involvement on the show is why many have come to be skeptical of Balzer’s claims. The Rams had the same coach (Jeff Fisher) and owner (Stan Kroenke) in 2014 that they have now, so why the sudden change of heart in terms of being on the show if they struck a deal just two years ago to not be on the show?
Fisher denies the report saying that the organization would not waste a draft pick for the political agenda of the NFL.
Fisher told ESPN's Mike & Mike on Thursday:
We drafted Michael, who was the best player on the board. And who in their right mind would think that you'd give up a draft choice to avoid doing something like that -- something that I think would benefit the organization.
An interesting tidbit Blazer noted in the article that feeds into his source’s claim is this:
One player still with the Rams is defensive end Ethan Westbrooks, who earned a roster spot as an undrafted free agent the same year as Sam. His story is an interesting postscript to the Sam saga. The Rams were high on Westbrooks, and he was apparently the team’s target for one of their two late seventh-round picks. However, center Demetrius Rhaney was selected one spot after Sam, as it would have been unseemly to take Westbrooks there.
There is no direct evidence that the teams picking after the Rams were urged (told?) not to draft Westbrooks, but would anyone be surprised if that was the case as a thank-you to the Rams for taking everyone off the hook?
So what is the truth? Who is the source that Balzer is using for this claim? And does the NFL have yet another conspiracy on their hands?