NFL questions out of bounds
NFL teams stray out of bounds when inquiries about sexual orientation are brought up at annual combine
The NFL combine is tough, even for the top players, with multiple workouts, drills and meetings.
Every player is constantly trying to prove he is worthy of having his name called during next month’s NFL draft.
The daunting physical demands aside, the interview portion of the combine has become one of the more nervewracking parts. And one of the most unethical.
This past week, former LSU running back Derrius Guice made waves by telling Sirius XM radio that one team asked him if he was gay.
This line of questioning is highly inappropriate, offensive and shows that at least one team in the league has its priorities out of whack.
Four former and current players from the Houston area spoke on the agreement of anonymity about their combine experiences. Two said they were asked about their sexual orientation. The other two said other lifestyle questions that caught them off-guard were asked.
Surprising omission
One young man, who has an assault charge on his record, said he was asked about an array of topics but his criminal record was rarely one of them.
“In the first interview I had at the combine, I was ready to answer the one question I thought they would ask,” he said. “I’d been involved in a fight in college. It was a stupid mistake and there were charges. It was on Twitter for a couple of days.
“I figured I was risky for teams. I hoped I could explain that it was a mistake and that I wasn’t really violent.”
But the question did not come to the Houston native in that combine interview in 2014 or the next one or the one after that.
“One team asked me about it,” he said.
Questions meant to trip up
Other questions that came up in interviews?
“There were a few crazy ones, like they were trying to see how you would react to rumors, I guess,” he said. “I was asked if I liked men or women or both of them. I was asked about a rumor that I had cheated on a girlfriend in high school. They asked me about my brother, about my mom. I guess maybe they were trying to see how I would react about negative things about my family.
“I’ve never actually had a job interview so I didn’t really know how strange it was until I talked with people after.”
The last several years have seen several players with speckled pasts drafted without pause. Last season, five draft picks were part of an active sexual or domestic assault investigation or who had been charged with assault previously.
If Joe Mixon, who broke bones in a woman’s face in a video the whole world saw long before the draft, is an acceptable pick for a team, it’s unfathomable that a player who is gay wouldn’t be.
“One of the teams that asked me if I preferred men or women followed it up by asking if I had any problem with ‘homosexual behavior,’ ” said a player who went through the 2013 combine. “I thought it was strange to ask me that, but I said I wasn’t gay and that I didn’t care if anyone else was.”
The player found out later from a friend that there were at least two players on that team who were gay.
“I think a lot of players knew about it,” he said. “I had a gay teammate my second year. He didn’t talk about it much or anything, but everyone knew and everyone was cool. I don’t think a lot of players would care about that. There are more gay NFL players than people think.”
More than a dozen former NFL players have come out after their careers ended. More will.
Eventually, one will feel comfortable enough to come out while active in his NFL career.
But as long as questions like the one posed to Guice this week and to others in previous years are asked to players, it’s going to make the NFL a place where gay players have to hide.
There are gay players in the NFL. And in the NBA and in MLB and the NHL. But male professional leagues aren’t a safe space for athletes to be out.
And they won’t be until stories like the one from the combine cease to exist. Discriminatory practices have no place in the NFL.
NFL states its policy
The league has responded to the inappropriate question.
“A question such as that is completely inappropriate and wholly contrary to league workplace policies,” an NFL statement said. “The NFL and its clubs are committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all employees in a manner that is consistent with our commitment to diversity and inclusion, state and federal laws and the (collective bargaining agreement). We are looking into the matter. The league annually reminds clubs of these workplace policies that prohibit personnel from seeking information concerning a player’s sexual orientation.”
Now the league should go one step further and fine the team that posed this question or put down a harsher punishment.
A precedent can be set to prevent these types of discriminatory practices from happening again.