So argues this OutSports article.
Lots of debate even there, as you might expect, but I thought I’d toss it out to the masses here. What do you think, especially of the comparison of the two as players, since that’s what a major portion of the argument is built on?
So the article goes into no small detail about how they play different positions and how Sam was projected into the later rounds while Ray has always been a projected first-round pick. Also, Tom Brady went in the 6th round while Ryan Leaf went at number 2. Why is that last part relevant? Because the draft is nothing more than a crapshoot. Was Sam’s draft class any stronger than Ray’s? Were teams looking for an undersized 4-3 defensive end last year? Did everybody taken higher than Sam catch on to the team that drafted them? Did anybody outperform their draft ranking?
There are too many variables to make the kind of declaration the article makes. There are hundreds of players that dropped through the draft like stones for any number of reasons. Ultimately, the proof that the article writer is full of it is that Sam failed to catch on with not one but two teams last year. Do you really think that Jeff Fisher or Jason Garrett wouldn’t have kept him if he could get the job done? Were there any reports of discord from the Rams or Cowboys?
EDIT: That’s not even to mention that this came from OutSports, which until I read the comments I had no idea was about gay athletes (though I probably should have from the page name). It’s someone with an axe to grind comparing apples with rhinos.
(Thanks for starting this, BTW…I didn’t feel like creating a whole new thread for just this.)
Every so often I hear about how some bigshot plummeted so, so far in the draft and alll the MILLIONS AND MILLIONS he lost out on as a result. Whenever that happens, I recall that old “Mr. Robinson’s Neighborhood” commercial (I think it was the first; search came up empty) where David Robinson rattled off his rookie year stats and finished with “Can you say ‘contract renegotiation’? Mr. Robinson can!”
See, that’s how it’s supposed to work. Start off with a relatively modest rookie salary, work hard, learn the system, be a team player, and then if…if…you prove that you’re a legitimate star, grab your piece of the pie. Barring a terrible injury or a horrific personal tragedy (and granted, these do happen), the cream will rise. What the hell kind of job can a man with zero professional experience expect an eight-figure deal?
I’m actually seeing a parallel with Tim Tebow, of all people, in that there’s a subset who will ALWAYS believe and ALWAYS make excuses and simply, despite all evidence, refuse to ever believe that he’s just not that good.
I decided to look up both players on mockdraftable.com, which has a nice visualization of the player’s combine drill stats compared to others of their same position group.
Here is Shane Ray. Here is Michael Sam.
It’s not even close. Sam is pretty close to the dead bottom in every category, and the only ones he surpasses Ray in (weight and arm length) he’s still in the bottom 40% of edge rushers as a whole. Ray isn’t great at everything, either, but he’s much faster in the 40 (89th percentile) and broad jump (79th percentile).
The article also seems to be mixing and matching numbers, since they said, for example, that Ray’s vertical of 33 inches was “only 3 inches higher than Sam’s” but Sam’s Combine vertical jump was 25.5 inches, not 30.
I admit I haven’t seen many Mizzou games but everything I’ve read, to me, makes me think that while they’re somewhat similar sized, Ray is much faster and can be an standing-up edge rusher while Sam is too slow to do so, and would need to play end with his hand on the ground, which has different requirements and he’s too small to do.
I’m sure that homophobia is alive and well in NFL locker rooms and many GMs probably see it as a reason to pass on him (since, by all indications, Sam is a fringe NFL prospect despite his college accolades). Comparing him to Shane Ray is not the way to prove that, though.
EDIT: Reading the comments, there are some other misleading omissions. Ray is significantly younger than Sam (21 instead of 24) which does make a huge difference in draft decisions. Also, when comparing their stats, the article just looks at totals, ignoring the fact that Sam played an additional year.