Michael Sam is the only openly gay player involved with the NFL right now. But according to him, there are plenty of other gay players who take part in the league, too. In fact, he says he's spoken to many of them about their experiences over the last year.
"I am not the only gay person in the NFL," he said during an appearance in Dallas yesterday, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "I'm just saying there is a lot of us. I respect the players that did reach out to me and had the courage to tell me that they were also gay, but they do not have the same courage as I do to come out before I even played a down in the NFL."
Sam then went on to discuss why he decided to come out prior to turning pro.
"Was it a risky move?" he asked. "Yes. But at that moment, the reason why I came out is I thought it wasn't going to be a big deal. Maybe I was naive. Maybe I thought it was 2014, and people will understand that there's gay NFL players. There's gay athletes everywhere. But I was clearly wrong. It was a huge deal."
Sam also said that, while he has talked with other gay NFL players, he's not going to do anything to betray their trust.
"The players who have reached out to me and told me about their sexual orientation, it just means a lot," he said. "But I will never say anything about who they are, what teams they are [on]. I'm just saying that there's some famous people, and I'm not the only one."
Not that that should surprise anyone.
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[via ESPN]
