After becoming the first openly gay player in NFL history, Michael Sam is now making history north of the border.

The 25-year-old pass rusher is now the first openly gay player in CFL history.

Sam was drafted by the St. Louis Rams in the seventh round of the 2014 NFL Draft, but was cut immediately following preseason play. The decision to part ways with Sam was a bit odd, considering he totaled 11 tackles and three sacks.

Rams head coach Jeff Fisher claims he was behind Sam throughout the entire process.

“I will tell you this: I was pulling for Mike,” he said. “I really was, and I don’t say that very often. Mike came in here and did everything we asked him to do.”

Despite not meeting expectations in St. Louis, Sam was optimistic about his future.

The most worthwhile things in life rarely come easy, this is a lesson I've always known. The journey continues.

— Michael Sam (@MichaelSam52) August 30, 2014

Just a few days later, the defensive end was picked up by the Dallas Cowboys, but that stint didn’t last long either. Jerry Jones explained in-depth why it wasn’t a good fit at the time.

“Michael was an outstanding look in practice in that he was very active and worked very, very hard. On the other hand, we actually had as many as 15 defensive linemen. Normally at most you might be dealing with 10 or 11, so we had long numbers at the defensive linemen and of course that’s what Michael Sam is.”

“It was just a question of we saw that we had guys coming back like we’ve had this week, of course, [DeMarcus] Lawrence is practicing. We’ve got two or three others who are taking snaps. On the come here, you got Josh Brent. All that happening, we just have to have a spot and that was the best thing for the team relative to all of the other things that a practice squad player does.”

However, Sam continued to remain positive.

I want to thank the Jones family and the entire Cowboys organization for this opportunity, as well as my friends, family, teammates, (1/3)

— Michael Sam (@MichaelSam52) October 21, 2014

After a long and much anticipated wait, the 6-foot-2, 256 pounder has finally found a home with the Montreal Alouettes. Sam signed a two-year contract.

General manager Jim Popp was thrilled about the signing to say the least.

“With the signing of Michael Sam, we have become a better organization today. Not only have we added an outstanding football player, we have added even a better person that brings dignity, character, and heart to our team.”

While Sam is excited to get back on the gridiron, his main focus is to bring some hardware to Montreal.

“Very excited and proud to be joining @MTLAlouettes! Cannot wait to get back on the field and bring a Grey Cup to #Montreal!

— Michael Sam (@MichaelSam52) May 22, 2015

Joining the CFL may be the best thing to ever happen to Sam. It’s obviously not the NFL, but this is a place where Sam can hone his skills and boost his confidence moving forward.

Popp is hopeful Sam silences his critics.

“If he proves (NFL) people wrong, it would be great for us, and I think he can do it.”

The real question is why does Sam have so many detractors?

It’s cliche to dismiss his sexuality and claim to be judging him based purely on his football ability, but that’s difficult to believe when Sam was an unaminous All-American and SEC Defensive Player of the Year during his final season at Mizzou. Couple those accolades with his impressive showing during Rams preseason play and it’ll leave you scratching your head.

If there was another player with the same accolades and talent of Sam, I believe they’ll be on a NFL roster, which leads me to believe Sam is being discriminated against, but he won’t say it.

“Hopefully I’m not being discriminated [against] because I’m gay,” Sam said. “I don’t believe that I’m being discriminated [against] because I’m gay. I just want to know if I’m truly not in the NFL, it’s because of talent. Let it be because of my talents. But you’ve got to prove that I can’t play this game. If you look at the film, clearly I can. So, I’ll leave it at that.”

As Michael Sam preps for the beginning of his new journey, you can be sure that he plans on proving all of the NFL wrong.