NFL issues warning to all teams and players ahead of free agency - report
NBC Sports’ Pro Football Talk reported Sunday it had obtained a copy of a memo the NFL sent to all 32 teams outlining what procedures teams must follow when a player claims he has been given permission by his current team to seek a trade.
The memo is designed to prevent any instances of tampering, the report says.
“Under no circumstances should a new club rely upon any written or oral representation by a player or his agent that he has received permission to enter into discussions for a trade for contract,” the memo states. “Nor should a new club rely upon a letter from the employer club to the agent or player granting such permission since employer clubs typically reserve the right to withdraw permission at any time, and may have already done so.
“Permission must be received directly from the employer club.”
NFL issues memo reminding teams of the procedures for permitting a player to seek a trade https://t.co/9OoyhAGHBu
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) March 11, 2018
The report adds this could be just a routine memo that is sent to all teams on an annual basis, but it’s also possible the memo was sent out in response to a specific incident the league has been made aware of.
Tampering is an issue the NFL says it takes seriously, but if you look at the league’s free agency period, you’d be hard pressed to believe a tampering rule even exists.
Tampering ahead of the league’s free agency period is becoming a running joke among many players and general managers, according to some reports.
This year, the official free agent signing period begins Wednesday at 4 p.m. Eastern. However, the league has deemed the 48 hours prior to that time as its “legal tampering” period, which is when teams and agents can officially talk.
During the legal tampering period, teams can reach verbal agreements for free agents, but no deals can be officially signed until Wednesday.
Legal tampering with Free Agents starts tomorrow (Illegal tampering is already underway lol) I am really excited I love the NFL offseason.
— Griffin Bostian (@GBostian4) March 11, 2018
No matter what the rule says, agents and general managers have been discussing potential deals long before the league’s legal tampering period begins. That’s because many players and their agents know well before the mid-March start of free agency that they’re going to be on the lookout to sign with a new team.
Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer wrote last month that the NFL’s scouting combine in Indianapolis is becoming as much a meeting place for agents and general managers to talk real dollars for free agents as it is a place to ogle upcoming draft prospects.
Breer interviewed an agent who told the story of a player he was representing two years ago. By the team the season ended, he already had enough conversations with various teams to create a list of as many as six teams and what they might be willing to offer his client for the following season.
More talk took place at the Super Bowl and the combine — well before the league allows discussions with agents of players — and when the player finally signed in March, it was with a team that had laid out its offer at the combine.
https://twitter.com/VikingsFGSN/status/968544239612301313
“I knew they were all in, like all in, more than before the combine — way more in,” the agent told Breer. “There was still a smattering of others, but I wasn’t feeling overly confident that we were going to have five or 10. All I cared about was, Do I have the number that I predicted? By then, you don’t care who. The week before free agency, it’s more about, ‘Hey, I got my number.’ Everything else is smoke and mirrors.”
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