During a Wednesday night interview on SiriusXM NFL Radio, running back Derrius Guice said that a team asked him if he liked men, at the NFL Scouting Combine.
Pro Football Talk independently confirmed that the question was asked, with a source who has knowledge of the situation. This is not the first time an NFL prospect has spoken publicly about a team inquiring about their sexuality, privately.
In 2016, for example, Eli Apple claimed that coaches from the Falcons staff asked him the same question.
“The Falcons coach, one of the coaches, was like, ‘So, do you like men?’ It was like the first thing he asked me,” Apple said. “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.”
The issue came to light in 2013 as well. The league conducted an investigation after three players came forward, saying that teams had asked about their sexuality.
The league set forth their policy on questions about sexual orientation in a 2013 statement: “It is league policy to neither consider nor inquire about sexual orientation in the hiring process. In addition, there are specific protections in our collective bargaining agreement with the players that prohibit discrimination against any player, including on the basis of sexual orientation.”
Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter @themightygwinn
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