At the 2015 Dallas Holocaust Museum Upstander Speaker series, Michael Sam, the first openly gay player drafted by the NFL, said that multiple gay NFL players had reached out to him but did not have the "courage" to come out.

“I am not the only gay person in the NFL,” Sam told the audience. “I’m just saying there is a lot of us. I respect the players that did reach out to me and had the courage to tell me that they were also gay, but they do not have the same courage as I do to come out before I even played a down in the NFL.”

Sam added that some of the gay players who contacted him are "famous," but that he would not reveal their names or teams.

"The players who have reached out to me and told me about their sexual orientation, it just means a lot," he said. "But I will never say anything about who they are, what teams they are. I’m just saying there’s some famous people, and I’m not the only one.” 

Speaking about his decision to come out, Sam called it a "risky move" born out of a possibly "naive" belief that people would accept him despite it.

“Was it a risky move? Yes. But at that moment, the reason why I came out is I thought it wasn’t going to be a big deal," said Sam. "Maybe I was naïve. Maybe I thought it was 2014, and people will understand that there’s gay NFL players. There’s gay athletes everywhere. But I was clearly wrong. It was a huge deal.”

Though he said he believes that he  is not being discriminated against because of his sexual orientation, Sam echoed a suggestive statement he made in December that a lack of talent was not why he wasn't on a roster: 

“Hopefully I’m not being discriminated because I’m gay. I don’t believe that I’m being discriminated because I’m gay,” Sam said. “I just want to know if I’m truly not in the NFL, it’s because of talent. If you look at the film, clearly I can. So, I’ll leave it at that.”

Sam was drafted by the St. Louis Rams in 2014 in the seventh round as the 249th overall pick, but did not make the final roster. He was later picked up by the Dallas Cowboys and practiced with the practice squad, but once again cut. He participated in the NFL's veterans combine this year, after which he told reporters he would consider playing in the Canadiann Football League. 

When Sam was first drafted, Oprah Winfrey announced a docu-series to follow him during Rams training camp, but canceled it after pushback from the team. He is currently one of the celebrity dancers on ABC's "Dancing With The Stars."