Buffalo Bills offensive lineman Eric Wood has blamed ESPN for Michael Sam's failure to secure a new team.

The 24-year-old, who became the first openly gay player in the NFL back in May, was released by the St Louis Rams on Sunday.

Sam was not signed by another team, which caused NFL sportscaster Ross Tucker to tweet: "Michael Sam performed much better than most expected and still isn't even on a practice squad?"

Wood responded to the tweet by saying: "blame that on espn. No one wants the distraction."

Last week, ESPN were forced to apologise after questioning on air whether Sam should shower with his teammates.