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POSTED 10:58 a.m. EST, March 3, 2008 LEAGUE WARNED TEAMS ABOUT TAMPERING
Peter King of SI.com reports in his Monday Morning Quarterback column that the league office issued a memo to all teams on January 31 reminding them not to engage in early discussions with free agents.
Said the memo, a copy of which was obtained by King: "You are specifically reminded that any contact -- direct or indirect -- by one club with players under contract to another club, about potential future employment, is not permitted. Such contacts could potentially interfere with the employer-employee relationship of the second club. Further, any public or private statement of interest, qualified or unqualified, in another club's player to the player's agent or representative, or to the news media, is a violation of the Anti-Tampering Policy.
"These rules are in effect at all times that a player remains under contract; the anticipated expiration of a player contract at the beginning of the upcoming League year (that is, a player's expectation that he will soon become a free agent) does not excuse impermissible contact prior to such contract expiration.''
But because the league doesn't investigate potential violations of this rule absent a complaint from one of the teams, there likely won't be any fallout from, for example, the strong possibility that the Dolphins had advance contact with 49ers guard Justin Smiley before signing him to a contract within 27 minutes after the free-agency period opened.
King also hints that the Eagles tampered with former Pats cornerback Asante Samuel, who signed with Philly on Friday. "[H]ow did I know the Eagles would be the leaders in the clubhouse for Asante, including details about the money in the deal, nine days ago?" King writes.
King's bottom line, with which we firmly agree: "We've got to stop pretending this doesn't exist, and the league has to stop selectively enforcing some rules and not others. If there's an anti-tampering rule, the NFL must enforce it the way it enforces other rules."
I'm waiting for you to come down hard on the teams, or even just one team, who tampered this year, NFL. It's a league rule, and you even issued a memo about it, sound familiar? Time to hand out large fines and take away draft picks, please.
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I'm waiting for you to come down hard on the teams, or even just one team, who tampered this year, NFL. It's a league rule, and you even issued a memo about it, sound familiar? Time to hand out large fines and take away draft picks, please.
Yep, I'm waiting too - and we'll both be waiting a LONG time.
The NFL ignored the Jets filming. They ignored the Dolphins stealing signals. The NFL always ignores its own memos. No wonder Belichick ignored it too. This wasn't an act of hubris. Belichick was just following SOP. The NFL selectively enforces rules.
Because violations of this rule can have a more significant impact on the competitive balance in the league, Goodell's overreaction in the spygate case has essentially tied his hands on this one. He can either look the other way, or he has to start ripping #1s from violators. His choices are limited.
Goodell's overreaction in the spygate case has essentially tied his hands on this one. He can either look the other way, or he has to start ripping #1s from violators. His choices are limited.
Yep. That's half the result of Goodell's incredible mishandling of spygate. The other half is that now he can't put the whole silly little thing behind him and move on.
All he needed to do was quietly hand out some mid-range slap on the wrist to the Pats two days after spygate broke and say "that's that". Instead, he stoked the media fire to make himself look important and handed down a penalty far out of proportion to the nature of the infraction.
...handed down a penalty far out of proportion to the nature of the infraction.
Now, he's boxed himself into a corner.
Across the board with enforcement -- no exceptions.
The Philly tampering ought to be investigated FIRST. And if guilty, proper penalty handed down. If not, some owner has a strong case vs someone -- and on and on we go. Can't turn back the clock Commish -- no matter how much you'd now like to.
__________________
"What we want to try to do is maximize each spot on the roster; we want to be stronger at No. 1 than the opponent, stronger at No. 25 than they are, and stronger at No. 53 than they are, we're always looking to upgrade the talent level on the team, and play together to be functional."
- Bill Belichick -
Yep. That's half the result of Goodell's incredible mishandling of spygate. The other half is that now he can't put the whole silly little thing behind him and move on.
All he needed to do was quietly hand out some mid-range slap on the wrist to the Pats two days after spygate broke and say "that's that". Instead, he stoked the media fire to make himself look important and handed down a penalty far out of proportion to the nature of the infraction.
Now, he's boxed himself into a corner.
Agree with you whole-heartedly. For whatever reason he decided to prolong his decision over a week's time and it created a snowball effect on the league. My guess is that he was trying to establish or assert himself as the new sheriff in town and now that teams continue to follow the league memo's he's trapped by his own conscience on whether to call more negative attention to himself and doing what's right.
Yep. That's half the result of Goodell's incredible mishandling of spygate. The other half is that now he can't put the whole silly little thing behind him and move on.
All he needed to do was quietly hand out some mid-range slap on the wrist to the Pats two days after spygate broke and say "that's that". Instead, he stoked the media fire to make himself look important and handed down a penalty far out of proportion to the nature of the infraction.
Now, he's boxed himself into a corner.
He hasn't boxed himself into a corner at all. Every football fan wanted to see the Pats brought down a notch. They couldn't rely on beating the Pats on the field, so they settled for trying to drag the franchise, coach, and players through the mud.
Now that we're talking about all these other teams breaking these rules, ESPN and the Goodell don't care anymore. This won't amount to anything at all.
What's worse: Having a cameraman on the sidelines, or talking to players before you're allowed to and gaining a clear advantage in getting players? It's pretty clear to me
Wait...theres teams in the NFL who cheat by tampering?!!! God, it must be those damn Patriots again who just cant stop cheating! Wasn't cheating to win 3 SBs enough?!
Oh wait, it's not the Patriots...
oh then who cares everyone does that. no big deal.
PFT: NFL sends tampering memo
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