Michael Sam, who in 2014 became the first openly gay player to be drafted by an NFL team, announced on Twitter Friday evening that he is walking away from football for mental health reasons.

Michael Sam became a fixture on ESPN and other sports ... the sports world around the difficulties of coming out as a football player, and he received the 2014 Arthur Ashe Courage Award from ...

While Nassib is the only openly gay player in the NFL ... Michael Sam retired to focus on his health. Michael Sam left football behind to deal with depression. Since then, he has seemed to ...

Michael Sam played just one game for the Montreal Alouettes, his only regular-season action as a professional football player. (Getty Images) When Sam arrived in Montreal in May of 2015 ...

measurables debate happens every year; it will become a focus and code in the discussion of Michael Sam, after he came out as the first openly gay player to (likely) play professional football.

Judge him as the football player, he said, not as the cultural symbol he'd come to embody. "Well, heck yeah, I just wish you would just say, 'Hey, Michael Sam, how's football going?' I would love ...

NFL players express support, concern after potential draftee announces he's gay. Feb. 10, 2014— -- Football players, coaches and personalities had a range of reactions to prospective NFL ...

"I just wish you guys would see me as Michael Sam the football player, instead of Michael Sam the gay football player." But Sam understood exactly why he elected to make the historic revelation ...

NEW YORK — Michael Sam was picked by the St. Louis Rams in the seventh round of the NFL draft Saturday, becoming the first openly gay player drafted by a pro football team. Sam played at ...

Long before the world knew of Michael Sam, football watchers had wondered what would happen to the country’s most popular sports league with the arrival of its first openly gay player.