NFL Cherry Picks a Tampering Case
What, we're supposed to be impressed that Kennesaw Mountain Goodell went hardline on the 49ers for tampering with Bears linebacker Lance Briggs today?
Please. What the Niners did - talk to Briggs' agent about acquiring Briggs while he was still under contract with the Bears - was going on with extreme prejudice just a month ago at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis.
Tampering is rampant there every year. Why? Because the start of the league year when player contracts expire comes the first week of March and the Combine is in late February.
True story: I was out to dinner in Indy last year and saw two GMs who are friendly pause to say hello. When the conversation ended, one GM said to the other, "Now excuse me while I get back to my tampering," and returned to his table full of high profile agents. Guffaws all around.
Ever wonder how Redskins owner Dan Snyder knew where to send those planes to pick up prospective free agents when the clock struck midnight and they became free? Because they laid the groundwork before the league year ended. They tampered. Every team that signs a player on the first day of free agency had to lay the groundwork for the signing before free agency began.
And if it's not being enforced - as it hasn't been - you do business as business is being done, to borrow a phrase from Bill Belichick (one that ultimately bit him in the posterior, I might add.
And while the Niners tampering may have been an aggravated case because it occurred during the season with a player who was franchised by Chicago, it was before the trading deadline.
But the Bears pressed it and the Niners got whacked, losing a fifth-round pick and having to swap third-round position with Chicago.
So what's Goodell going to do about the rampant Combine tampering? We may find out at the NFL Owner's Meetings next week in Florida. If the owners get together and agree that the status of would-be free agents can be discussed at the Combine or even move the start of the league year back to mid-February, then there's your answer.
If nothing is done, it will be interesting to see if there's a crackdown on tampering at next year's Combine. Which will be hard to monitor since personnel types and agents are there in large part to discuss the status of draftable players.
Believe this, folks in San Francisco will have a right to raise a stink if Combine tampering continues to be the norm going forward.
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Drilling deeply into the mantle layer of America's Passion, NBCSports.com's Tom Curran offers up quick hits and insights on all things NFL.
Don't bag on Goodell for 'cherry-picking'. This tacit approval with a wink regarding tampering was probably getting out of hand. In such situations, examples are always necessary to put teeth in a warning. Someone was going to get taxed a pick at one point, there was probably irrefutable evidence in this particular case, not unlike hundreds of other cases. The Bears and the 49ers were just the unfortunate recipients. Don't penalize a commisioner for doing what is expected of him in the first place.
So trying to steal a player costs a 5th round pick, but trying to steal signs costs a 1st rounder and $750K? Gimme a break! Either the Niners got off easy, or the Pats got shafted!
I hear you Josh but we'll see how sturdy the teeth actually are next time the Combine gets here.
"Everybody does it" didn't work when the Pats were caught! But, of course, it will be a vallid excuse for the wonderful and sainted '49ers!
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