Michael Sam returned to the field on Monday, rejoining the CFL’s Montreal Alouettes almost three weeks after taking a leave of absence. But Sam, who is professional football’s first openly gay player, refused to discuss his departure from the team telling the Canadian press: “I had to deal with a personal matter.”
He would not elaborate on the personal issue that kept him away.
Last week, Alouettes vice president and general manager Jim Popp told the Guardian he believed the attention Sam has gotten since coming out was larger than the player ever expected and he was overwhelmed. “I think he needed a break,” Popp said.
Sam spoke briefly to the reporters gathered to watch his first practice back with the team. He sounded most excited about last Friday’s US Supreme Court ruling that legalized gay marriage.
“That was freaking awesome. I almost cussed, by the way,” he said. “It was historical and I’m very proud and very happy to be American right now.”
He added: “I’m just happy that I can get married and it’d be legal.”
Because Sam has missed several weeks of practice and the Alouettes first game last Thursday, the defensive end will need three or four weeks of preparation to be ready for games. Popp likes his potential as a pass rusher, believing he has a skill that is very much in demand in both the CFL and NFL. He said Sam did a good job of adjusting to CFL rules that require defensive players to stand a yard behind the line of scrimmage and hopes Sam will abandon an unnatural rushing technique the team’s defensive coaches were urging him to use.
Popp also told the Guardian that several NFL teams called him in the days after Sam left the team and that many of those teams still have significant interest in Sam as a player.
