As good as a story it would have been, Michael Sam getting cut by the St. Louis Rams is just another example of professional sports being a business. Sam put in a lot of much needed effort in the preseason to try to secure a roster spot to make his NFL debut. Sam was cut by the St. Louis Rams on Saturday, as teams are required to trim their rosters down to 53 players.
Debuting in the regular season would have been a first for an openly gay athlete in the NFL. It is believed that undrafted rookie Ethan Westbrook will ultimately take what would have been Sam's roster spot on the team if he would have made it through all rounds of roster cuts before the season began.
Sam made some noise in the preseason by sacking Johnny Manziel and then flashing Manziel's money signs. That, of course, was huge on the internet and caused quite a firestorm. Two of the biggest pop culture sports icons colliding was something that was much needed.
Sam still has a shot at making the Rams practice squad, which is the goal of the front office. On top of the Manziel sack, Sam had two more sacks and a total of 11 tackles in the preseason.
All a player needs is the coach's trust and with Head Coach Jeff Fisher saying, "I believe he [Sam] can play in this league." That's about all you need to hear to know for sure that Michael Sam will have a career in professional football despite being cut by the team that drafted him.
For Sam, he could wind up on another team. Teams have until 12 PM Eastern Time on Sunday, August 31 to put a claim in for Sam.