he was named sec defensive player of the year back in 2013. with us now is michael sam. first, michael congratulations to you. what went through your head when you first heard about the news? pure excitement thomas. it was pure excitement. i was excited to get back to work and play football again. so you re going to get back to work. people saw you at work because you were doing dancing with the stars. were you in the process of working out this deal at the time or when did this all come together? well, since the day i got drafted by the rams montreal always had my rights. so if i ever were to go to cfl, i would always have to go to montreal. when i was during the off season i was always training to be on the nfl camp.
breathe warmup shirt before the game. there has been virtually no back lash, a big difference from the reaction of the method used by the rams. reaction from some fans, who burned ram s merchandise this weekend. in this case, the chicago bull s head coach supported and continues to support the display. he has something to say. i think it is a great message. it is about equality. and justice for everybody. reporter: the world has seen athletes as civil rights figures before. this potent image of the 1968 olympics, a black power salute in the middle of the civil rights movement. the athletes medals later revoked. it is these very visible moments that can help to shape a national conversation. can sports figures make a big difference in the discourse? yeah, i mean, they re they re role models. and a lot of people follow what they do. that is his platform.
i was always curious why a guy like that should be on a football program. he played with richie incognito after being drafted by the rams. he s not the only one chiming in. on the today show, tony dun gee said he didn t draft him because of his past. difficulties in college, some of the incidents he had on the field and off the field, we didn t want to bring that into our locker room. meanwhile, we re finally hearing from jonathan martin, the player who says he was taunted by incognito and left the team. kerrie sanders is in south florida and joins me live now. what is martin saying happened? reporter: well, jonathan martin is with his parents and that s out in california. meantime, he has issued a statement through his attorney. and the attorney says if the
the big beast who destroys all in front of him or jonathan martin who runs home to mommy? you know, i think that s what we re going to find out. you look at these two, i think jonathan martin is a young player, first round draft pick last year switched around from position to position and hasn t found himself yet as an nfl player. incognito proved himself and proved himself to be boarish. he got suspended and released by the rams. same thing happened in college at nebraska. he went to oregon and didn t even get to a play a game. he s got a pattern of bad behavior and i hopefully don t come off trying to defend him but there is a rush to conclusion before we figure out the parts of it. one of the things you said earlier caught my attention as well is you talked about politicians and the different generations and how they look at it. right. i think that the part of this
tomorrow, what would you want to go to war with richy incognito, the big beast who destroys all in front of him or jonathan martin who runs home to mommy? you know, i think that s what we re going to find out. you look at these two, i think jonathan martin is a young player, first round draft pick last year switched around from position to position and hasn t found himself yet as an nfl player. incognito proved himself and proved himself to be boarish. he got suspended and released by the rams. same thing happened in college at nebraska. he went to oregon and didn t even get to a play a game. he s got a pattern of bad behavior and i hopefully don t come off trying to defend him but there is a rush to conclusion before we figure out the parts of it. one of the things you said earlier caught my attention as well is you talked about politicians and the different generations and how they look at it. right. i think that the part of this