Miami Dolphins have fined safety Don Jones for a negative comment he made on Twitter about Michael Sam, the NFL's first openly gay player.

Jones has been excused from team activities and will have to pay an undisclosed amount after he tweeted "horrible" in response to Sam getting picked up by the St Louis Rams in the final round of the NFL draft.

The 23-year-old, who was picked up by the Dolphins in last year’s draft, has apologised for his remark, which has now been taken down.

“I want to apologise to Michael Sam for the inappropriate comments that I made last night on social media,” he said. “I take full responsibility for them and I regret that these tweets took away from his draft moment.”

Dolphins head coach Joe Philbin said: "We were disappointed to read Don's tweets during the NFL Draft.

“They were inappropriate and unacceptable, and we regret the negative impact these comments had on such an important weekend for the NFL.”