In case you are living under a giant rock, you’ve no doubt heard that Missouri defensive end Michael Sam came out as a homosexual on Sunday. Here are five thoughts on Sam’s brave decision:

$.01--One of the most fascinating aspects of this whole story is that Sam actually came out to his Missouri teammates last summer. Everyone on the Tigers knew, and the information never leaked to the general public.

Alex Dunlap (@AlexDunlapNFL): team embracing Sam as gay privately is probably the most cool part of the deal. No one leaked a thing. That's a team, folks. Salute. 

That demonstrates how well respected Michael Sam is as a man. Even teammates who were not okay with his sexual orientation kept it under their hats. It’s hard to imagine that sort of restraint and respect in most college locker rooms.

It doesn’t mean that some outside the program didn’t know, however. Most NFL teams knew already, thanks to scouting visits to Columbia and the open acknowledgement by Missouri coaches and teammates. Many of us in the extended scouting community had heard whispers, and living near his hometown by Houston and working out at the gym (League City 24 Hour Fitness) with some of his high school teammates, I had heard these sorts of things.

His Mizzou experience is one big reason why Sam felt empowered to come clean. They even made it into a good-natured taunt:

Ethan Hammerman (@Ethanhamm): BTW - Sam's nickname to many Mizzou fans was The Sack Fairy. Tongue in cheek reference, but all in good fun. Locker room ribbing.

Hopefully, Sam finds the same sort of experience at the next level. The fact he’s already gone through the experience should help him deal with the inevitable blowback and derision from teammates who will not accept his homosexuality.

$.02--Part of being in this profession is that many of us hear information like this well in advance of the general public. Many of us know of several active NFL players who are widely speculated to be homosexual. Yet nobody ever goes on the record, which is a fairly bizarre phenomenon. In this era of TMZ and instant access to everywhere thanks to Instagram, Twitter and other invasive social media, it’s amazing that no other players have been conclusively “outed”.

Perhaps Sam’s revelation will encourage others to come out publicly. During Shrine Game week, I was told by an agent that a fairly prominent prospect was going to come out as gay before the draft, and the name whispered into my ear was not Michael Sam. The name I heard was a skill position player from a Big 12 team, and I know I’m not the only one that heard it.

The gay community certainly hopes Sam will not go through his trial alone. There has been tremendous pressure on professional athletes known within the gay community to be members to publicly declare their sexuality for years. Now that someone has broken the glass, that pressure will only steam hotter. Will others feel secure enough to join Sam as openly gay, and how soon will it happen? That’s the big test now. The more players who do come out will only make it easier on Sam, who must be considered a heroic figure to the gay community. Leaving him out by himself to twist in the wind would be very disappointing.

$.03--No small part of this equation is how well Sam projects as a NFL player. In that respect, he’s got some work to do.

I was at Senior Bowl week in Mobile, and it did not go well for Sam. I tweeted this from one practice session:

Michael Sam continues to struggle. Just got pancaked by Martin, looked tight in drills.

I also wrote this after the second day of practice:

“–Biggest disappointment for me thus far has been Missouri DE Michael Sam. Part of the issue is that he is working at LB here. He’s as much of a linebacker as Dwight Howard is a point guard. His ankles and hips are tight, and he struggles with change of direction. Part of the issue is that he relies so much on forward lean and momentum to be effective. When he’s not going straight forward, his athleticism evaporates. Looks like a limited rush end. I was hopeful to see more.”

This shows up on game tape as well. Sam is a one-directional player. Get him going forward or chasing someone, and he’s fine. But put someone in his way, or ask him to read and react in space, and he’s just not up to NFL standards, not even as a reserve. To me, that’s worth nothing more than a sixth round pick and even that is optimistic. Most of his production came in a three-game stretch against lesser competition, and he hadn’t really done a lot heading into 2013. Add in that he was playing opposite surefire first-rounder Kony Ealy, and it’s hard to project great success for Sam.

$.04--The third cent here leads me to a quandary in covering Michael Sam. I’m not much of a fan of his game. Even though that information was public well before his sexuality became public, some will look at my negative opinion of his NFL future and think it’s rooted in some enmity or homophobic inclination on my part. Other writers have expressed similar sentiments as well.

It’s that sort of misguided venom that is going to unintentionally impact Sam. If the LGBT community cannot accept honest criticism of his play, it’s going to breed bad blood for the reporters who cover his team and commentators during games. It will make it very hard for legitimate analysis if every valid critique, from a football sense, is construed as homophobia by the gay community. 

It also weighs on the team that drafts Sam; if he truly cannot play, will they face significant backlash if they cut him before he even plays? Those worries could really hurt Sam’s stock in the draft. Why would a team risk that negative PR if choosing between Sam and another player of similar skill, like Shaq Barrett of Colorado State or Trent Murphy of Stanford. The fear of unfair and ignorant finger-pointing from the LGBT throngs will absolutely serve as a tie-breaker against Sam on a NFL draft board. I’m not saying that’s right or wrong, but it is absolutely real.

$.05--Take a look at the calendar. It’s February 10th, over a week after the Super Bowl. The Winter Olympics are making their four-year appearance with regrettable notability. College basketball is in full swing and full of controversy, with a likely NBA lottery pick going into the stands and attacking a fan. The weather is extremely volatile and noteworthy all over the nation. It’s the 50th anniversary of Beatlemania. Bitcoin prices have tanked. Obama.

Yet what’s the above-the-fold lead in most every newspaper in the country? What story is the first out of Charlie Rose’s accented lips on the CBS Morning News? What is Rush Limbaugh talking about right now as I type this?

The NFL is inescapable. It is so dominating our culture that nothing else matters nearly as much as football. Even in this dead time for the sport, the NFL continues to be the most prominent topic of conversation all over the country.

It obviously hasn’t happened yet, but we as a nation are going to hit a tipping point with our obsession with football. At some point in the not-too-distant future, all NFL all the time is going to hurt the league more than it helps. Enough people are going to get sick of it that it will lose audience and market share.

The NFL needs to be cognizant of overexposure. In its zeal to become such an integral portion of American culture, football is dangerously close to jumping the shark. That day is not here yet; there have been no Ted McGinley sightings thus far. But make no mistake, it’s coming.