The Sam Saga

By Brad Hubbard | @bradhubbard

Michael Sam’s professional football career is on life support. He left the Montreal Alouettes training camp late last week citing ‘personal reasons.’ While we don’t know the true reason why Sam left Quebec, we do know that his chances of making a roster in professional football (CFL or otherwise) are dissipating quickly.

Sam has every right to want to go home and not be put under the media microscope. The banality of being asked the same questions over & over again. He also has the right to pursue a career in his industry of choice, however in this case his industry of choice has a very small window. Sam is a smart guy and  probably understands this better than most which makes his decision to leave the Al’s all the more shocking.

Sam’s window of making an impact on a roster in the CFL or NFL is very small. While most people in the NFL cited Sam’s lack of size and speed, it is also the same league that once didn’t have an African-American quarterback for no reason other than the individual was black. Sam can prove his football critics wrong but he has to be on a field in order to do so.

Like we said before, Sam has the potential to be one of the best pass rushers the CFL has every seen. Being successful there could lead to an opportunity in the NFL a la Cameron Wake. But it may not be the right path for Sam. Maybe the game, culture and not being in the NFL are too much for him. Maybe he was tired of being the center of attention when he hasn’t proved his worth on a professional field yet. Maybe being the poster boy for the LGBT community weighed on him too much and he couldn’t put everything he had into his trade. We don’t know. The facts are that he is on the Al’s suspended list and not playing football.

We hope Sam’s ‘personal reasons’ are not serious and that he returns to the Al’s. We think he is a heck of a player and could really do well in the pass happy CFL. If he decides to not go back to the Al’s that’s fine too but this guy was meant to pin his ears back and get after a quarterback in a passing situation.