Once again, Michael Sam is a man without an NFL team.
The Dallas Cowboys released the defensive lineman from their practice squad Tuesday, parting ways with the the league’s first openly gay player.
Sam joined the team Sept. 3 after spending training camp with the St. Louis Rams, who selected him with a compensatory pick near the end of the 2014 draft.
Sam spent the first seven weeks of the season on Dallas’ 10-man practice squad and was never promoted to the 53-man roster.
After Dallas beat the New York Giants on Sunday, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones told USA Today that Sam’s sexual orientation was entirely inconsequential.
“It’s a dead issue. A dead issue,” Jones said.
The Cowboys said that releasing Sam opened a spot for linebacker Troy Davis, a second-year pro from Central Florida who worked out with the team on Monday.
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