Michael Sam is officially back with the Alouettes; will his time away hurt him?

When rookie defensive end Michael Sam left the CFL's Montreal Alouettes for undisclosed personal reasons the day before the team's first preseason game, many thought he wouldn't return. Making the CFL as a rookie is hard enough, making the league as a rookie defensive end who has to adjust to the one-yard neutral zone is even harder, and doing all that while being under the spotlight as the league's first openly-gay player is incredibly hard. Throw in how he missed preseason games and practices, and Sam seemed to be in a very tough position if he came back, making it seem likely he might simply give up on the CFL and pursue other opportunities (of which he has plenty). Sam has now officially returned to the team, though, as they confirmed in a statement Friday. Will he be able to bounce back and be a key part for the Alouettes this season, or will the time he missed be too hard to make up?

First, here's exactly what Montreal had to say about Sam in their statement:

That alone doesn't say much, but the quotes that general manager Jim Popp gave Les Carpenter of The Guardian for a piece published Thursday (before even rumours of Sam's return popped up) speak volumes as to how open he is to having Sam contribute still:

It's notable that not everyone in the Alouettes' organization may be as eager to welcome Sam back, though. While teammates were accepting of him initially (if skeptical of the media attention he was receiving), the comments from anonymous team sources to Herb Zurkowsky of The Montreal Gazette after Sam left were far more negative. Here's a sampling of those:

Add that some coaches and teammates might resent Sam for skipping practices and the preseason, and it doesn't look like it will be a smooth road ahead for him. That's before you get to on the field, too, where he was reportedly making progress before his departure, but still has to fully adjust to the Canadian game (and to subtle differences, like the Als' preferences for defensive ends to be in a two-point stance rather than a three-point one).

Can Sam make the transition back to being a productive member of the Alouettes? Well, he has the talent. His college record is incredibly impressive, as is what he did in the NFL preseason last year. There's a good case that the only reason he's not in that league right now is his sexuality. However, his departure will certainly hurt him in practice and game time missed, and it might hurt his standing with his teammates and coaches too. Perhaps they solve everything behind closed doors and Sam turns into a great CFL player, or perhaps this all ends after a couple weeks. We'll see how this plays out.