As the NFL’s first openly gay active player, Michael Sam is pretty much set for life: even long after he retires, he’ll still be in high demand thanks to his status, and the guy will probably be able to get away with a decent booking fee for a long while. As much as it sucks to be the first person to jump in the pool, the back end tends to be pretty sweet.
But in the meantime, Sam is probably pretty comfortable: according to Out magazine, he just inked a four-year deal with the St Louis Rams, worth $2.56 million. That’s Scrooge-McDuck-diving-into-a-money-pool levels of wealth.
To celebrate the milestone, Sam posted a picture of himself and his 10 other draft brothers to Twitter, along with the caption, “Grateful, humbled, and motivated after officially signing with all my Rams rookie brothers. Let’s do this!! #RamUp” As sweet a moment as this is, I can’t let a hashtag like #RamUp go by without a passing acknowledgment. It’s too perfect.
Either way, Michael Sam is now in a prime position to create a legacy both for himself and for openly gay athletes in North America. If he works his ass off on and off the field, he can help create an atmosphere in professional sports where he doesn’t have to be the only openly gay player in the NFL. He’ll always be the first, no doubt about it, but with any luck he won’t have to do it alone.
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