TMZ Sports spotted out football player Michael Sam this week at LAX airport and found out that the groundbreaking athlete may believe that he's not part of the National Football League because he's gay and not because of his skills.

When a TMZ reporter asked Sam whether or not he believes NFL teams are not signing him because of his sexuality, or if it has to do with the level of talent he came up against after college.

"I think I was the SEC [Southeastern Conference] Defensive Player of the Year last year," Sam said. "So I don't think it had to do with talent."

TMZ adds: "Translation -- he believes he's on the outs because he's out."

Sam, 24, said he's working to get back in with the NFL and that his reality show, which was going to be produced by the Oprah Network, is no longer in the works. "She has bigger problems then to deal with me," he said, and that he will "most likely not" be collaborating with her on anything.

He was asked if he has any plans to go into acting or be an action star, to which Sam replied, "I'm a football player."

Sam was released from the Dallas Cowboys' practice squad in October after he was cut from the St. Louis Rams in September.

The Rams drafted Sam late in the seventh round of the NFL draft in May. The former SEC defensive player of the year at Missouri was pick No. 249 out of 256. If Same really does believe he's been ousted from the NFL because he's gay he may have the evidence to back that up:

USA Today Sports reported in February that Sam is one of the very few SEC defensive players not to be drafted in the first two rounds.

Watch the TMZ interview below: