Michael Sam made history this year as the first openly gay player in the NFL, but now the 24-year-old defensive end says he would have preferred to keep his sexuality quiet instead of coming out so publicly.

"If I had it my way, I never would have done it the way I did, never would have told it the way I did," Sam told GQ, which named him Man of the Year. "I would have done the same thing I did at Mizzou—which was to tell my team and my coaches and leave it at that. "But the recruiters knew, and reporters knew, and they talked to each other, and it got out."

Cut by both the St. Louis Rams and the Dallas Cowboys practice team, Sam might feel he'd still be playing for the NFL if he had kept a lower profile about being gay.

"I have no regrets. Some people can argue that I had the potential to go higher in the draft, but I think everything happens for a reason."

He says the Rams welcomed him, "but I felt they were just putting smiles on their faces... because they didn’t know my future."

He compares his situation to that of a stray dog. "You don’t want to get too close."