Former Dallas Cowboy: What if Sam Pats Someone on the Butt?

Former Dallas Cowboy defensive end Greg Ellis spoke with Dallas's ESPN radio show KESN-FM Tuesday and discussed his views on Michael Sam, who made waves earlier this month for coming out and is poised to be the first openly gay player in NFL history.

As the Dallas News reports, Ellis was asked how his team would react to Sam coming out if he were still playing.

The athlete replied:

"I think it would be totally different than what it is right now. I think those years made a lot of difference in the current day NFL. But still, a universal rule in my opinion is that it's going to affect the football team. I don't care how we look at this, it's going to affect the football team. And one of the biggest reasons why it's going to affect the football team, he's not a proven player. Teams and guys have a lot of tendency to accept a lot of things if they feel like, 'Nobody done like him, but nobody can do what he can do.' If it's your quarterback and he's playing like Peyton Manning you're going to have find a way to say, 'We're going to overlook that because we're trying to win football games.' But when you're coming in as an unproven rookie, you won't have that card to pull because you're unproven. He has to be careful. He has to come in, close his mouth. It should've never came out. I know half the people will say, 'Why not?' Because it hurts his opportunity to be welcome into a football club."

He was also asked what Sam has to do when he if he is drafted to the National Football League.

"If he can make it through that first initial wave. If he can get out there - he doesn't need to say anything," Ellis said before later adding, "If he pats somebody on the butt - I hope ESPN don't get mad and never have me back - but if he pats somebody on the butt, how is that to be received? If he does that how is that to be received? If he said, 'Come on baby'? I called guys baby all the time on the football field, but when you have taken a stand and went and go public and say that, 'I am gay,' how is that going to be received? I've seen guys, I had guys on the Dallas Cowboys football team - I won't mention names - who did not want you to pat them on their butt. So God forbid if you pat one of those guys on the butt it's going to be a major problem."

When he was asked if he would be uncomfortable having an openly gay teammate, Ellis said he would.

"People who've never been in an NFL shower room, not just locker room, it's a open room. We don't have private curtains. It's just an open-form shower, so everybody sees each in the nude. Well if you're looking at men as if you're looking at women or vice versa, how are those guys to receive that? I don't know. I don't know how they will receive that. But I do know it would be a situation where I would go to the coach and try to work something out to say, 'Obviously this is going to be a problem. What can we do? The kid can help us play, can help us win football games. We need him on the team. But this situation right here, we need to do something.'"

This isn't the first time Sam has been hit with criticism. A number of NFL officials told Sports Illustrated that his decision to come out before the drafts was a bad career move, saying that teams are going to stay away from him because they don't want the attention and media scrutiny an out player will attract.

Despite the backlash, the athlete has been lauded by some NFL stars and even Michelle Obama. And more recently, a new poll from ESPN found that 86 percent of NFL players would welcome an openly gay teammate.