FLOWERY BRANCH — The Falcons use of gender-based questions at the NFL scouting combine may have been more extensive than just one to Ohio State cornerback Eli Apple, according to a person familiar with the NFL combine interviewing process and questions asked.
“A few players told me the Falcons were asking gender questions,” the person said. “After (Michael) Sam and the Jonathan Martin situation, teams want to be careful.”
Each team attempts to fill 60 interviews at the combine. It’s unlikely that Apple was 1 of 60 asked a gender-based (sexually-orientation) question.
The league would not address the possibility that they Falcons may have used more gender-based questions at the scouting combine.
“We do not have anything to say beyond what we said yesterday,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy wrote in an email to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Saturday.
The Falcons also would not comment about the matter. Most of the key team officials are out of town and return on Monday. It’s possible the coach or coaches involved in the un-sanctioned questioning could face team discipline while the league has stated that it’s “looking into” the matter.
A league violation could lead to a fine, suspension or possibly a loss of a draft choice. The Falcons were fined $350,000 and loss the fifth-round pick in the upcoming draft for pumping fake noise into the Georgia Dome. Also, president Rich McKay served a suspension related to the noise gate controversy and a marketing official was terminated.
All of the Falcons coaches have received sensitivity training and were are aware of the league memo on gender-related issues.
The Falcons issued an apology Friday to a Apple for an inappropriate and possibly homophobic question he was asked recently at the NFL scouting combine. One coach asked Apple if “he liked men.” The prospect was caught off-guard and went public with the story.
“This is disappointing and clearly inappropriate as the Falcons acknowledged,” McCarthy wrote. “We will look into it.”
In the wake of Michael Sam, an openly gay player who tried to make an NFL team, the league sent out a memo in 2014, reminding teams that questions about sexual orientation are against league policy as well as federal employment discrimination laws, specifically Title VII of the civil rights act of 1964, which states, in part, that “it shall be an unlawful employment practice … to discriminate against, any individual because of his race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.”
Apple, a New Jersey native, was making an appearance on Comcast SportsNet’s “Breakfast On Broad” in Philadelphia to talk about his potential future in the NFL.
“The Falcons coach, one of the coaches, was like, ‘So do you like men?’” Apple said. “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 ask most of these questions to see how you’re going to react.”
Whatever the coach’s intention were, Quinn issued an apology Friday.
“I am really disappointed in the question that was asked by one of our coaches,” Falcons head coach Dan Quinn said in statement sent to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Friday. “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.”
The Apple incident was the third reported misstep by an assistant coach from the recently completed scouting combine.
Assistant coach Bryan Cox got into a shoving match with a scout from Arizona, and offensive line coaches asked Western Michigan tackle Willie Beavers if saw himself as a “cat or a dog.”
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