If the NFL though Michael Sam could be a potential public relations problem in 2014, it could be in for a much bigger issue two years later.
The NFL persuaded the then-St. Louis Rams to draft Sam, the first openly gay player entering the NFL Draft, in the seventh round of the 2014 Draft that allowed the NFL to avoid a backlash from LGBT activists and keep the Rams from having to appear on HBO's "Hard Knocks" that season, according to NFL reporter Howard Balzer, via Larry Brown Sports.
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Balzer's tweet came on the day HBO announced the Los Angeles Rams would appear on the pay channel's training camp show.
Sources say NFL agreed not to have Rams on Hard Knocks in 2014 if they drafted Michael Sam.
— Howard Balzer (@HBalzer721) March 23, 2016
"According to Balzer, the NFL feared a PR disaster that would ensue if Sam went undrafted," Larry Brown Sports reported. "The Missouri Tigers product and former SEC Defensive Player of the Year was projected as a late-round pick, but as the draft neared the end, Sam remained on the board. The Rams ended up taking him at pick No. 249 out of 256."
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"It was a sweet story as he was picked by the "hometown team," and it gave Sam the awesome and controversial moment of being shown kissing his boyfriend on TV -- a seminal moment in sports history."
The Rams apparently did not want HBO intruding upon their training camp with their massive camera crews. If no teams volunteer for "Hard Knocks," the NFL makes a final determination, and the Rams were eligible to appear based on not having been to the playoffs in two seasons and maintaining the same head coach in Jeff Fisher.
Balzer alleges that the Rams were interested in another defensive end, Ethan Westbrooks, in the seventh round but didn't want to create the notion that they weren't going to give Sam a fair shot.
The conspiracy theory goes that the NFL mandated to other teams to stay away from Westbrooks. The Rams signed him as a free-agent but paid him seventh-round money.
Sam himself has weighed in on the report.
I'm not surprised at all https://t.co/wGnyFpuIVP — Michael Sam (@MichaelSamNFL) March 23, 2016
And if the Rams did the NFL a favor by drafting Sam in 2014, did the NFL return the favor by granting the Rams the bid to relocate to Los Angeles? If Balzar's report is to be believed, who's to say what the agreement was between the Rams and the league?
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