Michael Sam made history when he became the first openly gay player drafted into the NFL and he insists he is one of many homosexuals in the sport.
In a speech and Q&A session at the 2015 Dallas Holocaust Museum Upstander speaker series on Thursday, Sam revealed NFL players reached out to him after he was drafted by the St Louis Rams in 2014 and told him they were also gay.
"I am not the only gay person in the NFL," he said, via the Star-Telegram.
"I'm just saying there is a lot of us. I respect the players that did reach out to me and had the courage to tell me that they were also gay, but they do not have the same courage as I do to come out before I even played a down in the NFL.
"The players who have reached out to me and told me about their sexual orientation, it just means a lot. But I will never say anything about who they are, what teams they are [on]. I'm just saying there's some famous people, and I'm not the only one."
After Sam heard from those other gay players, he said he thought his reception would be less tumultuous.
"Was it a risky move? Yes. But at that moment, the reason why I came out is I thought it wasn't going to be a big deal," Sam said.
"Maybe I was naive. Maybe I thought it was 2014, and people will understand that there's gay NFL players. There's gay athletes everywhere. But I was clearly wrong. It was a huge deal."