Connor Cook took a surprising tumble down the draft board last weekend and didn’t hear his name called until early in the fourth round, and suddenly we are hearing a lot of rumblings about character concerns. Cook’s father, Chris, may have been one small reason for Connor’s unexpected slip.
Over the past several days, various blogs and news outlets have dug up some of the controversial tweets Chris is known to send. To put it kindly, he is a very opinionated person. His account has been deactivated, but here’s a sampling:
Here is Connor Cook’s dad Tweeting at a player who supposedly took a cheap shot at Connor: pic.twitter.com/hltUs7KNW4
— Jeff Moss (@JeffMossDSR) May 5, 2016
I wonder if he gave this award winning advice to his son. It sure helped Schilling!!!! pic.twitter.com/MsYIDvXCLU
— Jeff Moss (@JeffMossDSR) May 5, 2016
And here’s some from the xenophobic shelf ….. pic.twitter.com/C77Tt3zjCT
— Jeff Moss (@JeffMossDSR) May 5, 2016
As you can see, Jeff Moss of DetroitSportsRag.com was the one who brought our attention to many of Chris Cook’s tweets. That same site reports that NFL teams often look at the fathers of quarterback prospects for a glimpse into how they might turn out. We don’t know if that’s true, but we do know Cook didn’t appreciate being called out by Moss.
Following were my interactions w/ Connor Cook’s dad before he deleted his account. At least he didn’t call me “dike" pic.twitter.com/vDeUvND8yJ
— Jeff Moss (@JeffMossDSR) May 6, 2016
Did Cook’s dad have anything to do with him slipping into the fourth round? It’s possible, and there have been reports that some teams simply didn’t like the way Cook carried himself in pre-draft interviews. If any team was looking for a reason to take a chance on Cook, his dad’s strong personality probably didn’t help nudge them in that direction.
H/T Deadspin
