Montreal Alouettes general manager Jim Popp said Tuesday that he has a "50-50" chance of signing Michael Sam for the upcoming CFL season.
"The CFL is cut out perfectly for his style," Popp told the Montreal Gazette on Tuesday. "It would give him the opportunity to do what he does best."
The Alouettes have held the exclusive CFL rights to Sam, the first openly gay player to be selected in the NFL draft, since his senior year at Missouri, when he was the SEC co-defensive player of the year.
"His agent knows. They're ready," Popp told the Gazette. "They know this [CFL] may be what it is. It's Michael who has to make the decision -- and he might never come. The indications were he was ready to come last fall, and he's still not with us. So I really don't know. Seriously, I'd say our chances are 50/50."
Sam said during the NFL veterans combine on March 22 -- where he clocked 4.99 seconds in the 40-yard dash -- that Montreal was still an option.
"If that's the opportunity, I'll take it," Sam said then. "I'm a fighter and I'm going to keep fighting."
Sam was taken by the St. Louis Rams in the seventh round of the 2014 draft but didn't make the team. He has been a free agent since the Dallas Cowboys released him from their practice squad Oct. 21.
"If someone wants to really play football, they'll take that [CFL] opportunity," Popp told the Gazette. "When they do, and if he does what I think he can, truthfully, there will be NFL teams after him again. That's what will happen. Someone will see him differently."