Though it's been discussed occasionally over the course of the past several months, the NFL never really seemed to look into the charges that the Redskins illegally tampered with Albert Haynesworth before signing him away from the Tennessee Titans. Apparently, that is about to change. According to Yahoo! Sports, the league has opened a formal investigation and began conducting interviews with people closely associated with the signing. The question at hand is whether or not officials from the Redskins contacted Haynesworth about signing before free agency officially began on Feb. 27. The Titans believe they didn't have a full opportunity to re-up with the gargantuan defensive tackle due to the Redskins' tampering.
If the NFL does find in favor of the Titans, the Redskins will likely face losing a draft pick. The recent precedent in place was the Niners' loss of a fifth-round pick when they tampered with Lance Briggs of the Bears. It wouldn't really be a huge penalty for a team who has a pretty nice foundation in place, but every draft pick counts. Still, I'm guessing if the Redskins had a choice between their 2010 fifth-rounder and Albert freaking Haynesworth, they'd take the big man.
Maybe the league needs to put a harsher penalty in place? From a purely speculative standpoint, a team could just take the chance they don't get caught while thinking, "yeah, if we do, he's worth more than a fifth-rounder." Seriously, who wouldn't have traded their fifth-rounder for him?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-23-2009 @ 2:51PM
Pete Metcalf said...
Since it's unlikely a tampering team would contact a player directly, one would have to assume the easiest path would be through that player's agent. And since most agents rep multiple players, that path isn't hard to take. So the means to control tampering would seem to center on agents' ethics, standards and integrity. This might be the only time where you'll ever read those four words- agents, ethics, standards and integrity- in the same sentence. So I agree with the writer- if a team tampers, take a second-round pick away in the ensuing draft. That should curb the activity a bit. However- what about penalties for the offending agents? Money fines would be nice to see. How about $500,000 for the first offense?
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5-23-2009 @ 4:34PM
Steve said...
Look in my opinion the Titans messed up in what should have been without a doubt the first signing of a contract for the Titans but they took their time tried to hold out ,They knew other teams would take a look and sign him if the chance came about and the Redskins happened to be the team that signed him..The Titans as i have said before now realise what a huge mistake they made by waiting ..HARD LUCK TITANS but of couse we all knew you would try and kick dirt up in order to make good what mistake you have made...Live with it and maybe the other good players you have will not have to wait for a deal that you should put on the table..Hail Skins
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5-25-2009 @ 7:24AM
Roy said...
cracks me up the Titans are a cheap organization that has let plenty of free agents move on...if Fisher wasn't such a good guy..I'd be trashing them as opportunists
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