The NFL knew damn well what it was doing when it announced the unprecedented settlement of a tampering investigation between the two involved teams, the Cardinals and Eagles. By dropping it literally minutes before the start of round one of the draft, the news would draw minimal attention and/or scrutiny.
The league doesn’t want it to be scrutinized because, as one source described it, the decision is “bullshit.”
More specifically, the decision allows teams to negotiate among themselves the outcome of tampering violations. That has never happened.
Besides, cases settle when there are disputed factual issues. Here, there was no dispute. Cardinals G.M. Monti Ossenfort called former Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon at a time when such communication was prohibited. Ossenfort admits that he broke the rules.
So why do the Eagles and Cardinals get to work it out among them? And why did the Eagles emerge with a higher draft pick, when the Saints and Buccaneers got NOTHING for blatant tampering by the Dolphins with Sean Payton and Tom Brady, which resulted in Miami losing its first-round pick?
It’s a classic example of the NFL making it all up as it goes. Which is exactly why the news was announced less than 10 minutes before the start of the draft. With the ultimate offseason bright, shiny object bearing down on the media, they were counting on no one noticing that the outcome was, as the source said, “bullshit.”