There have been numerous stories about the random and awkward questions rookies face from potential NFL teams during the combine but this story here might take the cake. Ohio State defensive back, Eli Apple, one of the higher rated secondary players in the draft was asked by the Falcons if he likes men as the very first question he faced. Needless to say he felt very awkward and when the Falcons head coach Dan Quinn found out one of his coaches asked that he felt the need to apologize publicly.
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“The Falcons coach, one of the coaches, was like, ‘So do you like men?'” Apple told Comcast SportsNet. “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.”
There have been rumors and reports for years about the large population of gay men in Atlanta, both the ones who are out of the closet and those who are still in but for coaches to bring that up at the combine is pretty irrelevant, joking or not.
Coach Quinn released a statement when he was advised what happened as he was not there when the questions took place.
“I am really disappointed in the question that was asked by one of our coaches,” Quinn said. “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.”
An NFL spokesman said later Friday that the league would look into the incident.
