NFL Combine controversial interview questions, from prostitution to virginity & more
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The NFL Combine has come under fire for a number of reasons in recent years. Some critics point to the idea of exploiting young athletes, while others note the prospect interviews that have generated uproar and negative publicity.
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The latter has caught the eye of viewers for years. NFL front offices have grilled prospects with tangential and sometimes highly inappropriate and offensive questions.
Team questioning got so bad that in 2022 the league had to tell teams to call it off or face consequences. The NFL sent a memo to teams warning them that “disrespectful, inappropriate, or unprofessional” behavior during interviews would result in fines or forfeiture of draft picks.
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Inappropriate questions are not a new problem. In an infamous episode, former NFL wideout Dez Bryant was asked at the 2010 combine if his mother was a prostitute.
These and other controversial combine issues are listed below:
Dez Bryant asked if his mother was a prostitute
Arguably the most egregious of the inappropriate questions, Jeff Ireland, former Dolphins general manager, questioned the background of Bryant’s troubled mother.
“I got angry — really angry — but I didn’t show it,” Bryant said. “I have a lot of questions like this: Is she still on drugs? I sat down and answered them all.”
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Ireland later issued a vague apology for what he asked Bryant.
“Nevertheless, I spoke to Dez Bryant and told him that I used poor judgment on one of the questions I asked him. I certainly didn’t mean disrespect and I apologized to him,” Ireland said.
NFL prospects asked if they like men
Player sexual orientation has long been a popular question, but now it fits in the don’t ask pile (and rightly so).
Bengals cornerback Eli Apple recalled when the Falcons asked him if he was interested in men during the 2016 NFL Combine:
The Falcons coach, one of the coaches, said, “Do you like men?” It was like the first thing he asked me. It was weird. I just said, “No.” He said, “When you come to Atlanta, it’s like that sometimes, you have to get used to it.” I think he was joking, but they ask most of these questions just to see how you’re going to react.
Former running back Derrius Guice was also asked if he likes men – and he was also asked if his mum was a sex worker.
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NFL prospects asked if they found their moms “attractive.”
Most NFL players are mom’s boys, but definitely not to this extent. Dane Brugler, now at The Athletic, explained in 2016 that the strangest question he had heard was whether a player found his mother “attractive”.
Certainly they are all very beautiful women. Just maybe not in the way one particular NFL team was implying.
‘When was your first time?’
In 2015, Obum Gwacham, who played very briefly in the NFL, was asked by a team when he lost his virginity. Brugler says that Gwacham didn’t answer the question.
Preferred murder weapon?
Former NFL player Austen Lane says he was once asked what his preferred murder weapon would be: a gun or a knife.
It’s safe to say that NFL teams won’t be asking that question again.