In light of the Manti Te’o situation, the questions at the NFL scouting combine during player interviews earlier this month appear to have touched on some subjects that aren’t supposed to come up in job interviews – namely, sexual orientation.
The NFL Players Association is aware of those rumblings, and Colorado tight end Nick Kasa’s contention that he was asked if he’s a heterosexual, and the union wants the league to investigate whether, and to what extent, it occurred.
“I know that the NFL agrees that these types of questions violate the law, our CBA and player rights,” NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith said in a statement to USA Today. “I hope that they will seek out information as to what teams have engaged in this type of discrimination and we should then discuss appropriate discipline.”
The NFL appears ready to comply.
“Like all employers, our teams are expected to follow applicable federal, state and local employment laws. It is league policy to neither consider nor inquire about sexual orientation in the hiring process,” league spokesman Greg Aiello said. “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.
“We will look into the report on the questioning of Nick Kasa at the scouting combine. Any team or employee that inquires about impermissible subjects or makes an employment decision based on such factors is subject to league discipline.”
There was a report from ProFootballTalk.com’s Mike Florio, speaking on The Dan Patrick Show, saying the “elephant in the room” was teams’ desire to know if Te’o was gay and if his relationship with Lennay Kekua, who didn’t exist, was some form of cover-up for his sexuality.
Florio did not state a team asked Te’o if he was gay. Kasa said he was asked the opposite.
“They ask you like, ‘Do you have a girlfriend? Are you married? Do you like girls?’ ” Kasa said in an interview with ESPN Radio Denver, per ProFootballTalk.com.”Those kinds of things, and you know it was just kind of weird. But they would ask you with a straight face, and it’s a pretty weird experience altogether.”
Jeff Foster, the National Football Scouting president who runs the combine, said no team, player or agent has said to him that an inappropriate question was asked during the private interview sessions, which are conducted solely by the team. Foster and his staff only set up those interviews.
The combine staff conducts videotaped interviews that last about 10 minutes and are distributed to teams, who are permitted 60 private interviews. Those questions, Foster said, “have all been reviewed by legal and human resources to make sure they’re in compliance” with legal guidelines.
“The 32 NFL teams are professional organizations. At this point, I certainly don’t feel we need to remind them they need to act as such. I’ve got no sense of that,” Foster said. “I think it’s probably like a lot of things that come out of the combine – more rumor and innuendo than fact.”
“Now, if we found out there was in fact something that was inappropriate, we would address that individually to make sure we understand what’s happening and make sure we were all on the same page. But at this point, we don’t see that as being necessary.”
