Boy you're a regular Colombo
A story I have been following since the NFL combine last month is making some news and we may hear more about it this week: are the Redskins guilty of tampering in the acquisition of free agent score Albert Haynesworth?
Albert's old team the Tennessee Titans seem to think so. In honor of my brother, the author and newly frocked US Marine Lieutenant Colonel, I will give you the BLUF (bottom line up front): Hell yes. And hell no.
=====
The Redskins were sort of always in the mix for Albert Haynesworth, for at least four reasons, in no particular order:
1. Washington has a genuine need at the defensive tackle spot. And has for so long that overkill is justified.
2. All top drawer free agent representatives float the Redskins as a possible destination. This is because Dan Snyder is wealthy enough that his cash position is never in conflict with his cap position. Cash solves cap.
3. The Redskins are conspicuous for dipping into the market for top drawer talent in more years than not. And they set the market.
4. Dan Snyder prefers outside players to his own. He tires of his toys before they wear out. Perhaps number three is actually a corollary of this one.
So it was no surprise to me that Dan Snyder and Vinny Cerrato were spotted the evening of Sunday 22 February dining at Morton's in Indianapolis with Albert Haynesworth's agent Chad Speck during the NFL combine.
Two days later on 24 February Lance Zeirlein at the Houston Chronicle reported that his well connected and usually accurate source inside the NFL had told him Albert Haynesworth to the Redskins was a done deal, in a contract that would be worth upwards of 100 million dollars. This was still nearly 72 hours before free agency started.
In case you do not know the rules, free agents are not technically free agents until midnight on the last day of the football year, the last Thursday in February. One minute after midnight on that Friday, all expiring contracts are no longer in effect.
But up until that moment, players are still under contract to their old teams and they and their agents and representatives are not permitted to negotiate with other teams. To do so for the player represents breach of contract and for the prospective team represents tampering. Tampering charges are adjudicated by the office of the commissioner and when upheld result in fines and loss of draft picks for the tampering tam, often to be given to the losing team.
So under the rules of the system the free agent is not even free to begin to discuss the contours of a deal, much less the particulars of bonuses and incentives, escalators and weigh ins, until that moment.
Which makes it all that much more interesting that the Redskins were able to get every little thing about Albert's seven year 100 million dollar deal done between midnight Thursday and 5:30 am Friday.
Three days earlier there was already some speculation that the Titans might be interested in pursuing a tampering case. And Tennessee head coach Jeff Fisher is a member of the competition committee. Could the team let this go even if it was business as usual in the NFL?
Ten days later, on 7 March Jim Wyatt at the Tennessean reported that the Titans were interested in pursuing a tampering case against the Redskins, that the scuttlebutt and timing were just too suspect for a deal that size (hat tip to the ubiquitous Michael David Smith at Fanhouse for the link).
At this point most knowledgeable football fans would have to think this is bluster, that this is all sturm und drang over a player Tennessee could never convince to come back for a reasonable amount of money. One more case of a team complaining about the system that it is a part of.
And think about it. Morton's is not exactly a private location. If Chad Speck and Dan Snyder thought that being seen in public five days ahead of the big day would constitute a tampering risk, there are no doubt hundreds of private hotel conference rooms around Indianapolis. It is the quote everybody does it unquote mentality.
But then the Redskins threw some fresh wood on the fire, on their own radio station no less. On Friday morning 27 February, the first day of free agency, Redskins tailback and kick returner Rock Cartwright did an interview with Andy Pollin on WTEM 980, the Washington area sports talk station owned by Dan Snyder's Red Zebra Broadcasting. The same Dan Snyder that owns the Redskins. In the interview Rock appears to admit that he knew, along with at least one other player, that Washington's and Albert's representatives were negotiating before the start of free agency.
The audio is here, the key section is right at the beginning, emphasis mine:
Andy Pollin: At what time did you learn that Albert Haynesworth was going to be a teammate, Rock?
Rock Cartwright: Pretty much this morning when I woke up, put on NFL Network, they had breaking news going across the bottom of the screen, that he had signed for 100 million. But I kind of had an idea they were going to sign him anyway because one of my teammates, they have the same agent and he said they had been talking so...
Note carefully that this interview was conducted in the morning of the first day of free agency, meaning that quote had been talking unquote could reasonably be interpreted to be prior to midnight the night before.
It has also been reported that Redskins receiver Malcolm Kelly is also represented by Chad Speck (op. cit.).
=====
So what does all this mean? Did the Redskins tamper with Albert Haynesworth in order to ensure he would up with Washington? Yes they did. And it happens all the time. Off the record conversations, plausible deniability and outright lies make it all possible. And the Redskins are not the only team to do it.
But is it tampering practically speaking? No it is not, and that is precisely because every team has access to the same practice and they all would like to reserve the right to deploy it. I also have a larger question and that is, why prevent a player from negotiating with another team if he has no intention of re signing with his current team? A reasonable rules change would allow a player to declare whether he intended to sign with another team and if he did not then he could begin talks with other teams. He would still not be permitted to sign with any team until free agency starts, but it would negate the lie that teams and players do not talk when they should not.
What would I like as a Redskins fan? Not to believe my team breaks the rules, and beyond that not to believe the rules do not matter. If there is tampering, then catch it and punish the team. If the rules do not matter then change them.
Loose lips sink ships from here.
0 comments:
Post a Comment