Michael Sam's bid to become the first openly gay player to play in an official National Football League game took a snag on Saturday after the St. Louis Rams decided to cut the defensive lineman.

Sam, who was selected in the seventh round of the 2014 NFL Draft, failed to make it into the Rams' 53-man squad, and St. Louis coach Jeff Fisher said that cutting the former Missouri standout was purely a football decision.

"It was a football decision and it was no different than any other decision that we make," Fisher said via Los Angeles Times. "It was a football decision back in May to draft Mike. And once again, it's been about football."

Fisher decided to include nine defensive linemen in their squad, including rookie Ethan Westbrook, who reportedly edged Sam in the race for the final roster spot.

Sam could still make it into the Rams' practice squad if no team claims him on waivers on Sunday. Fisher insisted that teams won't find any reason to stay away from acquiring Sam.

"There will be no challenge, no challenges whatsoever," Fisher said of signing Sam. "There's no challenge with respect to Mike Sam. He's not about drawing attention to himself. He kept his head down and worked and you can't ask anything more out of any player for that matter."

When asked if they are planning to make a run at signing Sam for their 10-man practice squad, Fisher said, "I can't go there right now. We don't, coaches don't talk about practice squads because we have to see what happens as far as the claims and things are concerned."

Sam had a solid preseason for the Rams, tallying 11 tackles and three sacks, including two against Cleveland Browns' celebrated rookie quarterback Johnny Manziel. In their final preseason game against the Miami Dolphins, Sam had a team-high six tackles.

In a series of tweets on Saturday, Sam accepted Fisher's decision and said that he will work harder to reach his goal of making it into the league.

"I want to thank the entire Rams organization and the city of St. Louis for giving me this tremendous opportunity and allowing me to show I can play at this level. I look forward to continuing to build on the progress I made here toward a long and successful career," Sam wrote.

Related