One of the more popular media inquiries to prospects is about the strangest questions that NFL teams threw at them during the pre-draft process.
Ohio State cornerback Eli Apple, a possible first-round pick, joined Comcast SportsNet in Philadelphia and was asked just that. He passed along an awkward exchange with him and an Atlanta Falcons coach.
"I've been asked a lot of weird questions. I don't know if I could say on TV," Apple said. "The Falcons coach, one of the coaches, was like, 'So do you like men?' It was like the first thing he asked me. It was weird. I was just like, 'no.'
"He was like, 'if you're going to come to Atlanta, sometimes that's how it is around here, you're going to have to get used to it.' I guess he was joking, but they just ask most of these questions to see how you're going to react."
Even if Apple's assessment is correct — and it's something NFL teams have told us over the years, too — it doesn't mean that the Falcons' line of questioning can't be construed as a discriminatory one during a job interview.
And because of that, the Falcons apologized. Head coach Dan Quinn issued a statement after the original story was posted:
“I am really disappointed in the question that was asked by one of our coaches. I have spoken to the coach that interviewed Eli Apple and explained to him how inappropriate and unprofessional this was. I have reiterated this to the entire coaching staff and I want to apologize to Eli for this even coming up. This is not what the Atlanta Falcons are about and it is not how we are going to conduct ourselves.”
This was somewhat reminiscent of former Miami Dolphins GM Jeff Ireland, now with the New Orleans Saints' front office, asking then Oklahoma State receiver Dez Bryant if his mother was a prostitute. That likely was more over the line than what the Falcons did, but this clearly was an embarrassing incident that the Falcons needed to rectify.
It appears the NFLPA (even though Apple is not yet a member of the union) is aware of the situation, upset and asking for action from the league:
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