So now they are checking out the parents too?

[ghz in pittsburgh]

Straight from Kevin Colbert's mouth in one of the local sports show today. The Steelers this year made concerted effort to reach out to the prospects' parents (the interviewer used word "interview" but Colbert didn't); finding out what they behave like, what kind of car they drive, what kind of things they wear (jewels, gold etc.) etc. Colbert said it started out with Mike Tomlin a couple of years ago inviting the significant figures of their drafted players to the Steelers, post draft. They felt like they got some correlations in why some players behave from their parents. So now they want to do this BEFORE the draft.

Pretty soon I guess they will take blood sample, medical history from the grandpa onwards of all hoping to be drafted.

[Typ0]

This is a very good idea. The parents have had their successes and modeled their responses to their children. It's a good way to see how the kids will respond to success.

[GvilleBills]

Weren't they doing something similar with Dez Bryant's mom?

[DraftBoy]

Checking into a prospects family history has been going on for a very long time.