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Did Connor Cook's father affect his draft slide? It's possible

It has been a bit of a strange offseason, one where a player's wife basically got him released (and basically made him persona non grata with other teams) and where a two-year old video of a phenomenally talented draft prospect caused him to slide at least seven picks and lose millions of dollars.

So is it possible that another player's father was the reason he wasn't picked higher?

We certainly can't rule out the possibility. And we can rule in the fact that NFL teams spend more time, energy and money on players' backgrounds during the scouting process — and they likely factor in the small stuff — than people realize. For every discussion that happens behind closed team doors about a prospect's 40-yard dash, strength, production, injury history and positional versatility, there also are very serious ones about character — and the character of those closest to the players, too.

Witness Chris Cook, father of former Michigan State quarterback Connor Cook. While his son was tumbling into the third day of the NFL draft this past weekend, sources say he was extremely upset with how things were unfolding. And when the Oakland Raiders traded up near the top of Round 4 to pick Cook, his father was mad that he landed there and not with the Dallas Cowboys.

Now that's not that bad. Any football-loving father might have strong feelings about where his son ends up, and the long-term opportunity clearly is stronger in Dallas, where Tony Romo is very much on the back 9 of his career, versus Oakland, where Derek Carr appears to be a young star in bloom who is going nowhere anytime soon.

But per this Twitter dig from Deadspin, you can see why Cook's father might have been viewed as an issue by some NFL teams. He had some interesting things to say on his account, which was protected (little good that did), that is, before he nuked the account recently. If you want to see more, check out what Detroitsportsrag.com was able to find. (And just beware before you click on those links: Some of Chris Cook's tweets can be easily found to misogynistic, racist and homophobic in nature.)

In that second story, the suggestion is made that NFL teams dig deep specifically on the fathers of NFL quarterbacks and that there's a direct correlation between crummy dads and bad future NFL passers. While we never will make a direct line between those two things, we will say this: Teams most certainly are aware of the actions and personalities of players' family members, and it can have an effect — direct or otherwise — on where they end up playing or not playing in the NFL.

This is why the Miami Dolphins cut their best cornerback, Brent Grimes, after telling him that his wife had become a problem with her social media rants. Why NFL teams were worried that Robert Nkemdiche could not become untethered from his troublesome brother, Denzel, on whom most of his troubles had been blamed. And why we can see NFL teams being leery of Cook because of his father, who certainly appears to have the potential to be a social-media mess and perhaps a distraction in other ways, too.

Miko Grimes, Denzel Nkemdiche and Chris Cook might not be the worst human beings on the planet. But they might also serve their family members better by laying low. On social media and in other forms.

If just one potential employer was uncomfortable with their actions, it could have a major effect on their draft pick status, their worth in the free-agent market and with their career longevity. The old saying, "It just takes one team," certainly applies here.

So, the answer is yes. Yes, we believe that teams might subconsciously not want a player because they might not want to deal with the father. Naturally, if Cook was a rare talent, he might have gone in Round 1 — and perhaps in one of the top two picks, which were occupied by players with far fewer big games in college than Cook played in. But short of that, the red flags — including a report that Cook's personalty was the biggest reason for his fall in the draft — can look pretty bright for players whose talent is not considered special.

In fact, if you read that report, you can almost read the code between the lines that's unsaid: Cook's an arrogant kid ... and it's not hard to guess where it comes from. If Cook's father was, indeed, upset that the Cowboys passed on him — which they did several times — he might want to start asking why it happened. This report came after Cook was picked by the Raiders, and though all this chatter about him not being a captain and struggling in NFL teams' interviews was out there previously, there was no obvious character assassination happening. Teams clearly were not comfortable with something his son, or perhaps he, was doing.

Can a father have an effect on his son's draft stock? We believe it can. Whether that's fair or not, it's how NFL teams appear to do business.

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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at edholm@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!