Montreal Alouettes general manager Jim Popp is in touch daily with Michael Sam and his representatives, but he said he is not going to hound him into returning to the CFL team.

“We’re a better football team with Michael Sam, our city is better and our league is better with Michael Sam,” Popp told the Star. “We told him that when you’re ready to come back you have a place here.”

Sam, the first openly gay player drafted in the NFL, left the team Friday before the first pre-season game for personal reasons, the team said.

No one is talking about what those personal reasons are, leading to much speculation.

Last month, the defensive end signed a two-year contract with the Alouettes after failed attempts to make the St. Louis Rams, who drafted him in 2014, and the Dallas Cowboys, where he spent a month on their practice roster.

Sam can’t play pro football anywhere else because he is under contract with the Alouettes, who have suspended him. His rights remain with Montreal.

Popp has suggested Sam’s football career could be over if he doesn’t return.

The Montreal GM said there was a wrong perception that Sam was struggling on the field, and he believes Sam was showing steady improvement every day.

“Do I think he could make our team better? Absolutely,” Popp said. “How many sacks is he going to get? I have no clue. But he’s going to be a force to be reckoned with. He’s at home right now, so we may never know the answer to that.”

Popp said the 6-foot-2, 260-pound defender out of the University of Missouri faced challenges adjusting to the CFL system. He was used to a three-point stance on pass-rush plays, but the defensive co-ordinator insisted on a two-point stance.

“He worked at things he was asked to do that he doesn’t naturally do,” Popp said.

Popp lashed out at a media report suggesting that Sam may have overreacted to a teammate’s critical comment.

The Montreal Gazette quoted an unnamed source saying that someone made a comment about Sam not having a very good camp and that he took it personally.

Popp suspects the rumour started inside the team, perhaps with a player competing with Sam for a job because “guys are paranoid about their jobs.”

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“Who’s making those comments?” Popp said. “Is it someone who’s threatened by him? They’re scared he’s going to take his job? People don’t look at it that way. I do. I’ll put money on it. It came from somebody like that. The bottom line is I don’t like those type of people in our locker room.”

Popp called the report quoting an unnamed source “trash.”

“First of all, if you can’t put our name to something, it doesn’t represent our football team, I’ll tell you right now. That’s a bunch of crap. It’s a shame it went viral.”