Falcons forfeit a fifth round pick (!) for tampering with three players they eventually signed. GM fined $50k. Eagles not penalized for Barkley situation. Miami loses a first and a third for tampering with a player and a coach who didn’t even end up here, and Ross fined $1.5 million.
You can thank Brian Flores for his fake racism complaints too because that definitely played a part in the harsher penalty. But, yeah I expected just a slap on the wrist for these teams.
The Dolphins penalties are actually for firing Flores and pissing off the national media, and bringing a spotlight onto the league that they didn't want. How dare a team fire a coach who was the wrong man for the job and was liked by almost no one. I've said that since the penalties were handed down, and today Omar said as much on Twitter as well.
Cancel culture was in full bloom at that time and he was on every single morning news show and sports talk show doing the rounds. The NFL jumped right on board.
Wait, this is a comparison between the Falcons now and the Dolphins then, right? We didn’t lose ANOTHER 1st and 3rd during the offseason, right?
I'm not going to sit here and feel sorry for Stephen Ross. While Flores may not have been the right coach, it doesn't change the fact that Stephen messed around and found out. With that being said, I'm not least bit surprised by this news. The NFL has always been inconsistent about the punishment they levy.
Yes the punishments don't feel right but the Dolphins were absurdly blatant about what they did. I also don't think they should have been let off lighter because they were competent enough to land their guys
The owner of the Dolphins actively negotiated with a coach and a quarterback who were both under contract to other teams. The Falcons reportedly were allegedly disciplined because a team trainer contacted three guys who agreed to deals a day earlier to arrange travel to Atlanta the next day. They were in the legal tampering period, but not permitted direct contact with the player. Neither player signed because of what they did. We blatantly tampered. They technically tampered.
