Michael Sam’s release from the Dallas Cowboys practice squad this week came as the result of an increasingly crowded stable of defensive linemen, head coach Jason Garrett said.
Sam, who is attempting to become the first openly gay player on an active NFL roster, was cut on Tuesday after the team signed linebacker Troy Davis and defensive tackle Ken Bishop, and defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence and defensive tackle Amobi Okoye are getting close to returning from injury.
“A number of different defensive linemen have been waiting in the wings and we felt good enough about Bishop to keep him on the active roster,” Garrett said, per the Dallas Morning News. “He’s played in games and then when we made that move to release him last week, we wanted to bring him back.
“We felt like getting him back on the practice roster would be a good thing for us and you just got to be careful on the practice roster having too many of one position. You’ve got to function in practice. So we have a lot of defensive linemen and we have more coming.”
Sam, selected by the Rams in the seventh round of the draft in May, spent about a month and a half with the Cowboys.
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