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Michael Sam was the first openly gay player to be drafted in the NFL and the first openly gay player in the CFL, but he still has his sights set on the ultimate goal of playing in an NFL regular-season game.

Sam said on the Dan Patrick Show that he left the Canadian Football League’s Montreal Alouettes largely because he wasn’t getting better in the CFL, and his real focus is on getting better so that he can play in the NFL.

“I never really wanted to go to the CFL, but I did it and I committed to going,” Sam said. “I want to thank the Montreal Alouettes for all they’ve done for me, but I wasn’t getting better as a football player. That was one of the main keys, I wasn’t getting better as a football player. It was a different defense, a defense I wasn’t used to, and all the stuff I learned from the Rams, the Cowboys, I thought I was losing that technique in Montreal.”

Sam says he has no doubt that he can make an NFL roster next season.

“I am a football player, a damn good one too, and I want to prove myself within this league,” Sam said. “I know that I can do this, and I can play in this league.”

Realistically, however, Sam may have already used up his last chance. If Sam wasn’t good enough to make an NFL roster before, and didn’t get better during his stint in Montreal, why would NFL teams think he’s going to be good enough to make an NFL roster now? Sam deserves credit for having the courage to come out before last year’s draft, and he showed some flashes of talent in the preseason with the Rams. But he’s a long shot to make it back to the NFL.

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