Michael Sam: I Didn't Want to Come Out Like That

Michael Sam, the first openly gay player in the National Football League, revealed to GQ this month that he didn't really want to come out the way he did - just before the NFL draft; but said he has "no regrets" about his decision, Page Six points out.

"If I had it my way, I never would have done it the way I did, never would have told it the way I did," Sam, who was chosen as one of GQ's Men of the Year, told the magazine.

He said he would have preferred to tell his team that he is gay, but that "the recruiters knew, and reporters knew, and they talked to each other, and it got out. If I didn't have the year I did, nobody would have cared. But I have no regrets. Some people can argue that I had the potential to go higher in the draft. But I think everything happens for a reason."

Sam, 24, made headlines in February when he revealed to ESPN and the New York Times that he is gay. Not long after Sam's announcement, several NFL officials anonymously told Sports Illustrated that coming out as gay would hurt the athlete's chances at being drafted.

Sam was drafted by the St. Louis Rams but he was later cut only to be picked up by the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys released him a few months after he was on the practice squad, however.

"In St. Louis, they welcomed me, but I felt they were just putting smiles on their faces," Sam told GQ about his experience. "It was because they didn't know my future. It was almost like the situation with a stray dog - you don't want to get too close. In Dallas, they were more welcoming."