nfl athletes offer support for michael sams decision to come out nflathletes offer support to michael sam on social media 9 2014following the news that michael sam was poised to become the first publicly gay player in the national football league if as expected he is chosen in an early round of the nfl draft in may current and former athletes quickly voiced their support on social media for his decision to come outhis teammates at missouri who knew that he was gay before he spoke to the times quickly rallied around himwe are a family and we support all of our players nothing changes kentrell mizzou kentrellmizzou february 10 2014 chase daniel a missouri alumnus who is now a quarterback for the kansas city chiefs added his supportsome nfl players suggested he would be welcome in their locker rooms tom crabtree a tight end for the tampa bay buccaneers wrotepat mcafee a punter for the indianapolis colts saidhe also won praise from former athletes who have come out john amaechi who in 2007 was the first former nba player to come out after retiring saidesera tuaolo who played for five teams in the nfl from 1991 to 1999 and came out in 2002 wrotejonathan martin the miami dolphins offensive tackle who left the team in november because he felt bullied in the locker room offered his respectmalcolm smith the super bowl mvp linebacker for the seattle seahawks wrotejason collins a reserve basketball player who came out in 2013 but was not signed by a nba team wrote