Is there a financial benefit to drafting Sam...

[Maedhros]

35. Assuming that his game translates well to the NFL,

and if his draft stock does indeed drop and he is drafted later than projected, the financial benefit will be to the team that picks him up. They will be getting 2nd/3rd round talent while only paying 4th-7th round salary. Manti Teo is a reasonable analog.

There is no real benefit to Sam, though, and that fact makes him even more brave and principled in my book. Were he to have kept silent, he would have stood to have made a significant amount of extra money.

However, I'm of the opinion that any NFL GM worth his salt will look solely at Sam's ability to help the team on the field when deciding whether to draft him or not. He may fall on media-hype-driven draft boards, but that bigotry may not extend to the actual decision makers on draft day.