The Michael Sam distraction show continued Wednesday morning with Sam’s head coach going to bat for the St. Louis Rams rookie.
Sam’s name has been in the news this week after former NFL head coach Tony Dungy said he wouldn’t have drafted the defensive end because Dungy felt Sam would be an unneeded distraction. Dungy tried to clarify those comments Tuesday, and Sam himself has chimed in, too.
Wednesday, it was Rams head coach Jeff Fisher who came to the defense of his player. Fisher was asked on ESPN Radio’s “Mike and Mike in the Morning” whether Sam has been a distraction so far, and he gave an emphatic answer.
“Absolutely not,” he said, according to ProFootballTalk.com. “Let’s define distraction. There were a couple of extra cameras during early OTAs. There may have been an extra camera yesterday as rookies reported and went on the field the first time.
“Mike’s a very passionate athlete. He’s very focused on trying to make this football team. … He worked really hard during the summer, and he’s doing a good job.”
Fisher also said that he doesn’t hold any sort of grudge toward Dungy and didn’t take any issue to what the former coach said.
“I’m gonna assume that maybe some things were taken out of context,” Fisher added. “But everybody’s entitled to their opinion. Coaches are going to have differences of opinion during the draft. … I’m not concerned. Tony’s entitled to his opinion as everybody is and so are we, and right now we think we have a pretty good thing going.”
Fisher added that Sam will have no limits on his media availability during Rams training camp as the seventh-round draft pick attempts to make the 53-man roster.
