BTL Staff
ST. LOUIS – The St. Louis Rams have cut the first openly gay player drafted by an NFL team. However, the Dallas Cowboys confirmed Sept. 3 that they will assign him to the team's practice squad.
Ram's coach, Jeff Fisher, repeatedly said that reasons were purely a football decision.
Michael Sam was the seventh-round pick. His progress was watched as closely as any other rookie in the league. The defensive end couldn't make a team stocked with pass rushers and Sam lost out to undrafted Ethan Westbrooks, who was more productive and versatile, AP reports.
"I look forward to putting my helmet and pads on everyday to help bring a sixth Super Bowl Championship to Dallas!" Sam wrote on his twitter Sept. 3.
Sam thanked the entire Cowboys organization, the Jones family and the city of Dallas for giving him the opportunity.
"He's not about drawing attention to himself," Fisher said. "He kept his head down and worked and you can't ask anything more out of any player for that matter."
Fisher calls Sam's draft pick a "second historic moment" for the franchise after the 1946 signing of Kenny Washington into the league as the first black player in the modern era.
