Michael Sam posts average 40-yard dash times at 2014 NFL scouting combine

Michael Sam is blazing an important trail, but he didn't do that on the track. (David Drapkin/AP) Michael Sam has said that he'd rather be seen as Michael

Doug Farrar | Feb 24, 2014

Michael Sam posts average 40-yard dash times at 2014 NFL scouting combine /

Michael Sam is blazing an important trail, but he didn't do that on the track. (David Drapkin/AP)

Michael Sam has said that he'd rather be seen as Michael Sam, the football player while he's at the scouting combine. Not Michael Sam, the first openly gay player to enter the NFL draft. Of course, that's impossible, but when Sam hit the field at Indianapolis' Lucas Oil Stadium for his part in the drills that included defensive linemen and linebackers on Monday morning, the focus was solely on his football skills.

In the 40-yard dash, Sam took a false start on his first run, and then put up an unofficial 4.79 on his first full try. He looked a lot like he does on tape -- he ran a bit too high, was more gliding than explosive and didn't really stand out in any particular direction.

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He had a false start on his second try as well ... and then, another. Finally, he took off and looked very much like he did on the first run, except that he was a bit slower with an unofficial 4.84. It was clear with all the false starts that Sam was trying to get rolling with as much quickness as possible, but he's not a player who's faster on the field than he was on the track -- with the occasional exception presented by tape of him beating a tackle on the outside edge.

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The real NFL question will be whether Sam fits better as an outside pass-rushing linebacker, or perhaps as a run-side defensive end. I don't think he has the pure explosiveness to excel as an edge rusher in a four-man front where he'll have to take on blockers inside and get by. However, I have seen him stunt inside and get skinny through gaps and create pressure. Like most mid-round draft picks at his nebulous position, Sam is a player whose attributes will have to be tailored to a specific set of schemes. He's not going to come in and just blow everyone away wherever you put him.

"I’m a pass rusher," Sam told the media last week. "If you put me in a situation to get the quarterback, I’m going to get the quarterback. Whoever coaches or GMs, this league is a passing league, I’d like to believe in myself as a good pass rusher ... I can drop back in coverage as well. My specialty is rushing the passer."

Published Feb 24, 2014

DOUG FARRAR

SI.com contributing NFL writer and Seattle resident Doug Farrar started writing about football locally in 2002, and became Football Outsiders' West Coast NFL guy in 2006. He was fascinated by FO's idea to combine Bill James with Dr. Z, and wrote for the site for six years. He wrote a game-tape column called "Cover-2" for a number of years, and contributed to six editions of "Pro Football Prospectus" and the "Football Outsiders Almanac." In 2009, Doug was invited to join Yahoo Sports' NFL team, and covered Senior Bowls, scouting combines, Super Bowls, and all sorts of other things for Yahoo Sports and the Shutdown Corner blog through June, 2013. Doug received the proverbial offer he couldn't refuse from SI.com in 2013, and that was that. Doug has also written for the Seattle Times, the Washington Post, the New York Sun, FOX Sports, ESPN.com, and ESPN The Magazine. He also makes regular appearances on several local and national radio shows, and has hosted several podcasts over the years. He counts Dan Jenkins, Thomas Boswell, Frank Deford, Ralph Wiley, Peter King, and Bill Simmons as the writers who made him want to do this for a living. In his rare off-time, Doug can be found reading, hiking, working out, searching for new Hendrix, Who, and MC5 bootlegs, and wondering if the Mariners will ever be good again.