Backroom deal between NFL/Rams over Michael Sam and Hard Knocks

[SonnyCID]

Rams Made Deal With NFL To Draft Michael Sam To Not Film 'Hard Knocks,' Report Says

 

[Duffman]

I never watch it but what is so bad about the show?

 

[SonnyCID]

I never watch it but what is so bad about the show?

From a team perspective?

A big camera crew at training camp is an unnecessary distraction.

 

[Duffman]

From a team perspective?

A big camera crew at training camp is an unnecessary distraction.

It seems like good exposure to me. Sure having people tape stuff could get in the way but unless they are showing stuff teams don't want on video it seems harmless to me.

Of course not ever having seen the show maybe I'm thinking of it more as extra media and hype about your team and it's not actually like that.

 

[Davis_Mike]

I don't think anyone is surprised. The Rams' D-line was stacked at time. Many people, my self included, at the time thought the Rams did the NFL a solid by drafting Sam & not letting him go undrafted. We just didn't what the Rams were getting out of it. Now we do.

Where are all those people that were advocating Sam was an NFL talent & the Rams got a steal? Where are the guys here at the hoop who attacked & called anyone a homophobe who even mentioned the idea that the Rams were just drafting Sam to save the NFL from unwarranted bad press?

As for Hard Knocks, the problem for most teams is that the show is invasive. At a time when you are trying to find & train young guys, you have a camera crew in the way. A lack of privacy for delicate situations for both players & coaches. It basically forces everyone involved to check themselves, behave differently than they otherwise would. Most of us have a pretty good idea what goes on between guys in team training environment, so we know there is a lot that goes on that might not be acceptable to the general public PC crowd.

As for Sam, other than working hard & getting better, once he orchestrated his "coming out", he was in a no win situation. It's laughable when he claimed that going undrafted would have been better for him. If that was the case, he should have kept his mouth shut & stayed away from the media till after he was drafted. He pushed & created the issue that forced the NFL to try to save face. He knew he wasn't good enough to get drafted & created the firestorm that resulted in what happened. The guy is a hypocrite, liar, & a charlatan.

 

[UK Cowboy]

I'm sure someone will try and sue the NFL over this. There's got to be an ambulance chaser somewhere foaming at the mouth to go after a piece of the NFL's billions. Maybe some undrafted FA's that might have been drafted by the Rams if he weren't straight

 

[Davis_Mike]

I'm sure someone will try and sue the NFL over this. There's got to be an ambulance chaser somewhere foaming at the mouth to go after a piece of the NFL's billions. Maybe some undrafted FA's that might have been drafted by the Rams if he weren't straight

I just read this over at PFT:

Balzer also speculates that the league office possibly twisted arms elsewhere to ensure that defensive end Ethan Westbrooks would not be drafted by other teams over the final seven picks in the 2014 draft so that the Rams could sign him as an undrafted free agent. Westbrooks made the 53-man roster that year. Westbrooks received a $20,000 signing bonus and $30,000 in guaranteed salary for the first year of his contract.

I really hope that is not true. Talk about collusion...

 

[redseat]

I never watch it but what is so bad about the show?

in before "The Patriots will take the tapes illegally and use them as game film"


But in all seriousness I am thinking that teams think camera crews and needless interviews to be a distraction/they don't want teams to see the tapes and study them

 

[redseat]

But I really have to ask... "How does Hardknock Life have that much influence on an NFL team?"

 

[UK Cowboy]

I just read this over at PFT:



I really hope that is not true. Talk about collusion...

Exactly what it is

 

[Clayton]

As for Sam, other than working hard & getting better, once he orchestrated his "coming out", he was in a no win situation. It's laughable when he claimed that going undrafted would have been better for him. If that was the case, he should have kept his mouth shut & stayed away from the media till after he was drafted. He pushed & created the issue that forced the NFL to try to save face. He knew he wasn't good enough to get drafted & created the firestorm that resulted in what happened. The guy is a hypocrite, liar, & a charlatan.

I think Sam would've been a 5th-7th round prospect if he'd been straight. He was a pass rusher with one move and one season but thats enough to get any NFL team to throw a flier on you if you have no off the field issues. Being gay was simply an off the field media issue and the risk-reward wasn't worth it. I wouldn't say he orchestrated his coming out so much as he took advantage of the 15 minutes of fame. He was fully out during his college days.

It was obviously orchestrated for the Rams, however. The fact that the NFL ensured that the Rams got the player they actually wanted was....fair?..but all things considered it was obvious that the NFL was doing it to avoid bad press.


Also, lol @ Rams getting Hard Knocks this year

 

[jarntt]

Well, if sources said it, then it MUST be true...

So it was worth it to the Rams to basically throw away a draft pick simply to delay being on the show a year or two? Does that make any sense at all? And I could have sworn many other teams have just flat out turned down being on the show for no reason other than they didn't want to. Were the Rams just too dumb to realize they too could do this???

 

[cowboycolors]

Bottom line Sam did not have the talent to play in the NFL its just that plain as vanilla ice cream.

Nothing more to see here move along move along

 

[Battlelyon]

So let me get this straight, the Rams took Sam so they didn't have to be on Hard Knocks, forcing them to have a media circus anyway. I think the Rams would rather have been on the show than to have dealt with that media circus, which team wouldn't.

 

[HammerDown]

 

[Davis_Mike]

Like anyone believes anything out of Fisher's mouth. He us basically telling us that 1+1 = 7.

As for doing Hard Knocks this season, that was all part of the deal to move to LA. Along with the home game in China.

 

[Dude]

Backroom deal? hmm

 

[LongtimeRamsFan42]

So let me get this straight, the Rams took Sam so they didn't have to be on Hard Knocks, forcing them to have a media circus anyway. I think the Rams would rather have been on the show than to have dealt with that media circus, which team wouldn't.

Bingo!!! That training camp was a nightmare for the Rams, everything was about Michael Sam, Michael Sam, Michael Sam. The media was EVERYWHERE...How is that any better than Hard Knocks being there?

 

[shopson67]

From a team perspective?

A big camera crew at training camp is an unnecessary distraction.

You mean like drafting the first ever publicly homosexual player?

The article is just more Rams bashing from a butthurt St Louis media.

 

[bksballer89]

Like anyone believes anything out of Fisher's mouth. He us basically telling us that 1+1 = 7.

As for doing Hard Knocks this season, that was all part of the deal to move to LA. Along with the home game in China.

Do you have anything to back up your claim or are you just talking out of your ass as always?