Goodell Rules: Vikings Didn’t Tamper

by | Aug 4, 2008 | Business of Football

Der Kommissar Roger Goodell has handed down his verdict on the tampering charges filed against the Minnesota Vikings by the Green Bay Packers–and that verdict is not guilty.  The Vikings, whom the Packers claimed encouraged Brett Favre to return, sparking this whole fugly mess of a situation that we all can’t escape, admitted that coaches Darrell Bevell and Brad Childress spoke to Favre, but claimed they were ‘run-of-the-mill, innocent exchanges.’

So, now our question is–are the Packers, who supposedly had some phone records proving the contact(despite never issuing a team cell phone to Brett Favre), guilty of tampering (to obtain those phone records) and/or some other rule that probably isn’t but should be in place to prevent teams from launching distracting tampering investigations against division opponents?

Otherwise, add it to the list of tactics we can expect Jerry Jones to employ in 2009 to try to finally prove that Jimmy Johnson wasn’t the only reason he won some Super Bowls in the 1990’s.

Goodell Wants Favre Situation Finished

by | Aug 3, 2008 | Business of Football, Contract Squabbles, NFL ... something

Favre Fiasco. Favre Fatigue. Favre F-k Up (of Off).  Whatever you want to call it, Roger Goodell wants the Favre situation done.  By Monday.

But why is it any of his business to make such a declaration?  And why hasn’t he approved a players request for re-instatement for almost a full week?

We were all impressed when Goodell stepped in as commissioner, and started to try to crack down on possibly the only blemish that Paul Tagliabue left him with–the “degradation of the NFL society” we could call it, as several bad boy incidents started to paint the NFL in a bad light.

And I’ve been impressed by his willingness to come out against the ridiculous NFL Rookie pay scale that exists.

But I think by not acting on a players request to be reinstated within a reasonable time frame, and now declaring that he wants the situation resolved by Monday, he’s heading down a slippery path.  If the delay wasn’t in the Packers favor (any delay to the situation hurts whoever ends up with Favre), I would suggest that they file tamporing charges against him.  Of course, since he is the judge, jury and executioner, that wouldn’t get very far.

As to the Favre fiasco, rumors are that the $20-million, 10 year “marketing agreement” offer to Favre may be pushed to an even higher amount through negotiations this weekend. 

Frankly, I still can’t believe that the NFL will allow this type of a deal to happen, without some sort of salary cap implications.  I realize he’s a “retired” player, but as commenter Sir Whoopass pointed out last week, what’s to prevent Jerry Jones from starting to pay players from other teams to not play if the Packers are allowed to pay their own player not to?

Like the Poison Pill negotiating tactic (which to my knowledge wasn’t ever officially banned, but hasn’t been used since the Vikings nabbed Steve Hutchinson, and the Seahawks “retaliated” by signing Nate Burleson), this needs to be nipped in the bud early.

Too bad the NFL doesn’t have a commissioner who is willing to step in on situations like these…

49ers a Fantasy Force?

by | Jul 31, 2008 | Fantasy Football

Matthew J. Darnell writes a blog for Yahoo! called The Shutdown Corner, which has made it to my RSS list due to his take on covering the NFL, and the fact that Redskins TE Chris Cooley regularly posts there, and actually seems to often have some interesting insights into the life of an NFL player (Cooley famously reported that he knocked himself out of his fantasy football league playoffs a couple years back with a 3 TD performance late in the season).

One of his regular features of late has been a love/hate review of each team as training camp opens.  Yesterday, he reviewed the San Francisco 49ers…and I almost cancelled my subscription.

(more…)

What are the Consequences of FALSE Tampering Charges?

by | Jul 24, 2008 | Business of Football, NFL News, NFL Random Thoughts

So, unless you’re hiding under a rock, or you’ve wisely already made ZoneBlitz the only Web site you visit each day, you probably already know the latest news in the ongoing Favre-Packers-Vikings love triangle, which is that Favre does NOT, in fact, have a Packers issued cell phone. So, either the tampering charges were apparently based on some other evidence, or the Packers are just on a fishing trip, trying to make life as miserable for the Vikings as it has been for the Pack since Favre decided to “un-retire.”

And that got us to thinking–what are the consequences for the Packers if the Vikings are found NOT to have been tampering? If the Packers suspected that the Vikings might be tampering, since he speaks to his friend Darrell Bevell frequently, and filed the complaint simply believing that the NFL might find something–and if not, then at least the Vikings have had to deal with a problem right before training camp, there has to be some sort of consequence for filing false charges, right?

If there’s no penalty, you can expect this to become a strategy in coming seasons, as teams try to hassle division rivals to try to gain an edge. At least until Roger Goodell steps in and tells them to knock it off (a la the Poison Pill contaract provision), or he comes down hard on some team for doing so (and destroys all the evidence afterward).