St. Louis released Michael Sam on Saturday as the former Tigers defensive end attended the Missouri-South Dakota State game two hours from the Rams facilities.

Sam was attempting to become the first openly-gay player on a Week 1 roster in NFL history, but he cleared waivers Sunday.

The Rams are stacked with talent along the defensive line, retaining 10 players at the position on the 53-man roster. It appears St. Louis decided to keep undrafted rookie Ethan Westbrooks of West Texas A&M ahead of Sam, a seventh-round pick. Sam made three sacks in the preseason, fewer than just three other NFL players, but Westbrooks also acquitted himself well.

St. Louis coach Jeff Fisher called it a “football decision.”

“I will tell you this: I was pulling for Mike. I really was,” Fisher said, according to media reports. “I don’t say that very often, but Mike came in here and did everything that we asked him to do. He got a chance to play a lot of snaps. He had the second most snaps on the defensive line, to Ethan Westbrooks. He had well over 120, 130 snaps and was productive.”

Sam reportedly traveled back to St. Louis at some point after the Missouri game and met with Fisher on Sunday. But as of Sunday night, Sam had not signed as a practice squad member with the Rams or any other organization.

St. Louis had filled a reported five of its 10 practice squad slots as of 7:15 p.m. ET Sunday. It’s possible Sam will claim one of those remaining spots, or that he’ll catch on with another team’s practice squad, but it’s all speculative at this point.

Sam is a pass-rush specialist. Normally the back end of rosters is reserved for potential special teams contributors, which didn’t work in his favor. But he made enough plays to make it seem reasonable that a team would want to develop him and see if he can become an asset as a third-down guy.