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 was the eighth-to-last man selected in the NFL draft. Today, he is the most important football player in the nation. Sam, the first openly gay man to be drafted by an NFL team ...

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 ...

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 ...

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.

Michael Sam's CFL career was possibly short lived ... Earlier this season, Sam became first openly gay pro football player. In mid-June, Sam left the Alouettes citing "personal reasons".

"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 ...

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 ...