Dolphins GM causes stir with questioning of Dez Bryant

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Dolphins General Manager Jeff Ireland may have crossed the line during his questioning of draft prospect Dez Bryant during the NFL Combine.

Or maybe he didn’t.

Either way, Ireland issued a statement Tuesday saying he apologized to Bryant after a column on Yahoo.com earlier in the day alleged that Ireland had asked the player if his mother was a prostitute.

Ireland said in his statement:

‘My job is to find out as much information as possible about a player that I’m considering drafting. Sometimes that leads to asking in-depth questions.

‘Having said that, I talked to Dez Bryant and told him I used poor judgment in one of the questions I asked him. I certainly meant no disrespect and apologized to him.’

Many people -- including Yahoo.com’s Michael Silver, who broke the story -- have taken great offense to Ireland’s line of questioning, who calls the Dolphins ‘a strong candidate to be decreed the biggest jerk in the history of job interviewers,’ among other things.

But there are others who come to Ireland’s defense. Mike Berardino of the Sun-Sentinel writes that, although Ireland may have been too blunt, NFL teams have a right to probe into the background of prospects before forking over the big bucks.

Plus, Berardino adds, we don’t know the context or tone of Ireland’s question.

Needless to say, Bryant, an Oklahoma State receiver who ended up being drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the first round, wasn’t thrilled with the question either.

“I got mad -- really mad -- but I didn’t show it,” Bryant told Silver.

What do you think? Did Ireland go too far? Or was he just doing his job?

-- Chuck Schilken