I rather not use the Briggs case as the sceanrio was so different than the Revis one. The bears called SF on a trade for briggs, SF called rosenhaus to find out what the contract demands would be, the bears then had a change of heart and decided to sign him long term, an offer was made, Rosenhausl laughed and said SF would offer this and the bears filed charges saying they never authorized the agent contact.
The Detroit case was much more similar as a asst coach mentioned that HE would be interested in a KC player if he was cut. Now an assistant coach has no juice tosign anyone, unlike woody, the player in question was a bottom 53 player and was not in negotiations with the chiefs.
Your sf argument can be just as easily spun on its head. Given they were contacted and it can easily be assumed their actions would be the next logical step in negotiating a deal with Chicago.
So if anything, the Jets are worse, repeatedly, and publicly putting out their strong desire to sign a player currently under contract, playing in the playoffs, and with an option for the next year.
Wood's initial infraction does differ in form, however the blatant disregard for league policy for the second time in one league year ups the ante, so to speak. If it is discovered that further tampering took place (just head to Mehta's twitter and writings around the "legal" tampering period), which can also consist of leaks to media, then a hammer needs to be dropped even harder.
Given the bar has been set at swap of third and loss of fifth (jets don't have a 5 or 6), swap of second and loss of seventh seems reasonable given the blatant, and flippant dismissal of league policy for the second time in the same league year. If it is deemed the tampering continued leading up to free agency, while the Pats were negotiating and determining if they would pick up an option to retain the best CB in the game, loss of first, swap of second, major fine.
Is it heavy handed? Maybe, but with the absurd amount of tampering exceeding what has been deemed acceptable during the "legal tampering period," goody needs to drop the hammer on one, if not more teams (dolphins come to mind as well). as we all know, the current precedent for publicly ignoring a written warning from the league office was previously a loss of first round pick, as well as some of the largest fines handed down in league history.
Time to reclaim the throne Goodell, half the league spit in your face for the three days leading up to free agency. We all know who the most glaring, and blatant example was. Time to open up a can of whoop ass, just try not to **** up your manicure in the process.
