NFL News : Michael Sam Meets with NFL Media

(Photo: Pat Lovell, USA TODAY Sports)

Michael Sam says he hasn't heard questions from NFL teams about his sexual orientation and its potential impact on his pro career.

The former Missouri star heard plenty from reporters Saturday afternoon at the scouting combine, though - and Sam hopes that's where the questions will end.

"Oh, heck yeah, I wish you guys were just saying, 'Hey, Michael Sam, how's football going? How's training going?' I would love if you'd ask me that question," he said, in his first public appearance since making his landmark announcement Feb. 9.

"But it is what it is. I just wish you guys would see me as Michael Sam the football player instead of Michael Sam the gay football player."

An All-America selection as a senior with the Tigers in 2013, Sam told his college teammates he was gay before last season. Now he hopes to become the NFL's first openly gay player, though he said he doesn't feel like a trailblazer - "I feel like I'm Michael Sam."

Sam said the question he has heard from teams have revolved around his position and his "tweener" size at 6-foot-2 and 255 pounds, which are part of the reason he may have to wait until the late rounds to hear his name called during May's draft.

"I want to play whoever picks me up as a defensive end or an outside linebacker to rush that passer," said Sam, who had 11½ sacks last season and 20 in his four-year career. "That's what I do best."

"I applaud what he did," Browns coach Mike Pettine said Saturday. "In the NFL, it's a results business. Can Michael Sam help the Cleveland Browns win? If he can, then there's a good chance he'll be a part of our football team."

The SEC's defensive player of the year in 2013, Sam has a chance to answer some questions about his athletic ability when defensive ends and linebackers perform drills here Monday.

"I think Michael Sam is an effective outside pass rusher," Tennessee Titans general manager Ruston Webster said. "He has some strength at the point. But his main thing is getting up the field and rushing the passer and putting pressure on the quarterback."

Baltimore Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome said the locker room won't be an issue: "It's what you, the media, what are you all going to do with him?"

Perhaps then it was a good sign the last question to Sam from a reporter Saturday focused not on the announcement or the locker room, but the perception he was inconsistent as a pass rusher.

Replied Sam: "Winning is hard, buddy."

source : http://www.thv11.com/news/article/298916/288/Michael-Sam-meets-with-NFL-media-and-shines?