One coach asked Eli Apple one very inappropriate question at the NFL Combine

ELI Apple was at the NFL Scouting Combine when one coach asked him something he shouldn’t have ever thought was appropriate.

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - FEBRUARY 29: Defensive back Eli Apple of Ohio State runs with the ball during the 2016 NFL Scouting Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium on February 29, 2016 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Joe Robbins/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

IF WHETHER a prospect finds his mother attractive isn’t off-limits, then a player’s sexuality apparently isn’t, either.

That’s the reality of the NFL Scouting Combine, where no question is too intrusive and no stone goes unturned in the quest to find the league’s perfect specimen, inside and out.

The latest rubber-necking question comes via Eli Apple, a cornerback out of Ohio State, whose sexual orientation was apparently pertinent to whether the Atlanta Falcons would consider drafting him.

“The Falcons coach, one of the coaches, was like, ‘So do you like men?’” Apple, out of New Jersey, told Comcast SportsNet on Saturday.

“It was the first thing he asked me. It was weird. I was just like, ‘No.’ He said, ‘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.”

After Apple, projected as a first-round talent, revealed the prying, it was the Falcons who had to react.

Apple’s ability, not his sexuality, should be the only thing that matters.

“I am really disappointed in the question that was asked by one of our coaches,” read the statement, attributed to head coach Dan Quinn.

“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 apologise 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.”

The questioning is a bad look for the league, and so the league will look into it. The NFL told Pro Football Talk it will investigate the incident.

“This is disappointing and clearly inappropriate as the Falcons acknowledged,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said in an email. “We will look into it.”

It’s the latest in a long line of invasive questions asked of potential NFL players. As they try identifying the right individual to invest millions of dollars in, teams want to be sure of every aspect of what they’re signing up for — to a ridiculous extent.

The questions aren’t always crossing a personal line — “Would you rather be a cat or dog?” — but they do try to unearth something about a prospect.

What learning his sexuality could reveal, though, even the Falcons can’t answer.

Originally published as One coach asked Eli Apple one very inappropriate question at the NFL Combine