Possible Legal Tampering Violation Could Land Teams in Hot Water

Even before NFL free agency started on March 13^th, most free agents already had a new home. The NFL allows free agents to seek contracts with new teams in the two days prior to the start of free agency during what the league calls the legal tampering period. The legal tampering period, however, is not a wild-free-for-all—there are rules.

During the “legal tampering period,” contracts cannot be finalized or signed, but these deals can be agreed upon in principle. [1] Teams are prohibited from communicating directly with free agents during the legal tampering period, so all discussions must occur through a player’s agent. If a team wants to speak directly with a player—whether about injuries or contract terms—it must wait until free agency officially starts. [2] If the NFL determines that a team violated these rules and started negotiating prior to the legal tampering period or contacted a player too early, the league can punish the organization through fines or eliminating draft picks. [3] Last year, for example, the NFL fined Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross $1.5 million dollars and stripped the team of its first and third round draft picks for illegally communicating with Tom Brady and then-New Orlean Saints coach Sean Payton. [4]

The League provides three exemptions to the legal tampering period. First, teams are allowed to communicate and sign their own players to new contracts. Second, if a player is released, teams are also allowed to communicate with players because they are no longer under a current contract. Third, teams are allowed to communicate with a soon-to-be-released player about a new contract after the player’s current team gives permission. [5]

Currently, there are two teams under investigation by the NFL for potentially violating the legal tampering rules. Both the Philadelphia Eagles and the Atlanta Falcons have been accused of illegally communicating with their free-agent signings. [6] Kirk Cousins, who signed with the Falcons, suggested during his introductory press conference that he had direct communications with a team trainer prior to the start of free agency about his recovery from his achilles injury. [7] As for the accusation against the Eagles, the NFL is basing its investigation off of a statement made by Saquon Barkley’s college coach James Franklin. [8] Franklin said that Eagles general manager Howie Roseman directly called the running back and used Barkley ties to Pennsylvania during a cell phone pitch to convince him to sign with the Eagles. [9]

These two instances reveal what is presumed to be a common practice around the NFL prior to the official start of the tampering period– that all teams have conversations with agents about signing potential free agents. Common sense suggests this because complex, multimillion dollar deals—reaching as high as $100 million guaranteed in the case of Kirk Cousins—are negotiated and agreed to within just a few days. [10] Most teams “get away with it” because they are discreet about their conversations prior to the legal tampering period, but the Falcons and the Eagles actions are the “kind of thing that could get the league to mobilize”, even if the it typically looks the other way. [11] Because the conduct of both teams “obviously” and “blatantly” violated the rules against direct communications with free agents during the legal tampering period, the NFL will have to punish the Eagles and the Falcons. [12] If the league failed to impose punishment on either team, it will be accused of acting arbitrarily and capriciously by failing to follow its own rules. The NFL may also lose support if fans start perceiving free agency as an unfair practice where some teams do not have to follow the same rules as the rest of the league. Both teams should therefore expect punishment by the NFL in the coming weeks, either in the form of a monetary fine or through the loss of draft picks.