FROM MICHAEL LOMBARDI:
26 MAY 2009
QUOTE: “I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” – Albert Einstein, as quoted in "What Life Means to Albert Einstein,” an interview by George Sylvester Viereck in the Saturday Evening Post, Oct. 26, 1929.
FROM JASON REID OF THE WASHINGTON POST... NFL investigators have been reviewing information relating to the Redskins' pursuit of (Albert) Haynesworth, who formerly played for the Tennessee Titans, and whether his representative was improperly contacted before free agency officially began at midnight Feb. 27. The Redskins and Haynesworth agreed to terms of a deal by 5:30 a.m. Feb. 27. League investigators are interested in obtaining all communications between Haynesworth's agent, Chad Speck, and Redskins officials in the weeks before free agency opened. Part of the difficulty, though, in determining the subject matter of the contact is that Speck also represents Redskins wide receiver Malcolm Kelly.
I hope everyone enjoyed their Memorial Day weekend. In honor of the holiday, I will focus today on the situation going on in our nation’s Capitol involving Albert Haynesworth, the Tennessee Titans and the Redskins.
Having spent 23 years in the NFL, I’ve witnessed firsthand my share of tampering by other teams and tampering by teams I’ve worked for. So I’ve seen this from both sides. My reaction: This is a non-story. It’s like Hyman Roth told Michael Corleone in “The Godfather” when they were discussing Mo Green’s death: “And I said to myself, this is the business we've chosen; I didn't ask who gave the order because it had nothing to do with business.”
This is the business of the NFL. Tampering is always going to occur before the free agency period, in large part because of the Combine. The Scouting Combine is now the NFL’s version of a convention for coaches and executives. Virtually all NFL coaches and executives show up in Indy, and the NFL Players Association holds its annual agent accreditation meetings at the same time. So all the agents are in the same spot, and all NFL executives are in the same spot -- you make your own assumptions. To continue with my “Godfather” analogy, members of the mob always meet face to face in secure locations to avoid wiretapping and phone records being subpoenaed. Why do you think Tony from “The Sopranos” kept meeting Uncle Junior at Dr. Sheck office? Because the feds can’t wiretap a doctor’s office.
In fact, I feel that being able to meet face to face with agents as they talk about all the teams that are interested in their client benefits the teams. Yes, it benefits the teams because you can make eye contact with an agent, just as high stakes poker players look in the eye of their opponent to determine if they’re bluffing. Meeting face to face allows team to sense body language, to sense the power of the words and the conviction in the agent’s voice.
I learned a long time ago that “no” was not a bad word when it applied to college recruiting and now NFL free agency. “No” allows you to move along, to give up on that player and focus on another prospect. “Maybe” was the worst word to hear. That kept you in a holding pattern, in limbo, which is not a good spot when faced with a deadline.
How does this all relate to the ‘Skins? Well, we all know that putting together a deal of any magnitude takes time. To make a player leave his team requires large sums of money. Chad Speck, Haynesworth’s agent, knew the dropoff point for the Titans. He knew what financial levels he could achieve from Titans, so once he knew that teams would beat that offer, his main job was to convince the player of a new destination. All this takes time, not three hours after midnight.
If the Titans wanted to avoid this type of out-of-control situation, they should not have agreed to remove the franchise tag from Haynesworth last summer, which allowed them to control his movement. Giving away that negotiating chip put Haynesworth in full control -- something I wrote at the time was not a good move. It also allowed his agent to make inquires about the level of interest earlier than usual because teams knew he was going to be a free agent. Having the freedom to make calls to determine level of casual interest makes the agent’s job much easier. Had they franchised Haynesworth, they could have still let him go for less than a first rounder, as the Packers did last year with their defensive lineman, Corey Williams.
I do not want to assume the Redskins’ guilt, but there’s plenty of smoke here. The ‘Skins could have been a little smarter waiting to announce the deal, allowing some time to pass to make everyone feel that negotiations were ongoing, which slows down the talk of tampering.
The league office can come down on the ‘Skins and take away a draft pick, but it’s won’t stop tampering. Nothing the league will do can stop it; they can only slow it down. And that can only be achieved if the league changes the dates of the Combine, which could not happen based on the dates of the draft.
Get Belichick involved. Driven by public opinion, and yahoo dave, the penalty will rise to flogging, or water boarding, with death itself under consideration.
I think something will come of it because it was so obvious. But I don't think it will be as harsh as deserved. I mean, we were hearing the Skins were gonna offer over $100 Million about a week before the free agency date. How is releasing that info right there not tampering?
Michael you are amazing. You have a gathering of Uncle Junior, Tony Soprano, Hyman Roth, Michael Corleone, Mo Green and Dr. Sheck in this column regrding the possibility of tampering by the Washington Redskins in signing Albert Haynesworth. Surely no one thinks that Dan "Big Checkbook" Snyder did nothing other than making Albert a deal he couldn't refuse.
Does it really matter that the 'Skins could lose a pick b/c of tampering? They were going to trade it away anyway.
The Redskins' punishment always comes on the field when they make huge free agent acquisitions only to have them blow up in their faces. Perhaps that's why the NFL does nothing to impede Snyder. He seems pretty adept at destroying himself. Nice job, Lombardi. While tampering is enticing, it still appears that building through the draft is the surest way to succeed in the NFL.
Its cheating! Snyder should be suspended as an owner, branded on the forehead, and any time the redskins ever play the Titans, it should be a forfeit giving Tenessee the W.
Don't tell me everybody does it. Don't tell me they didn't get a big advantage from it. The Skins were caught cheating, and they must be punished in accordance with the most extreme imaginable fan reaction.
cheating is cheating!
/end sarcasm
There was this kid I grew up with - he was younger than me. Sorta looked up to me - you know. We did our first work together, worked our way out of the street. Things were good, and we made the most of it. During Prohibition we ran molasses into Canada. Made a fortune - your father, too. As much as anyone, I loved him and trusted him. Later on he had an idea: to build a city out of a desert stop-over for GI's on the way to the West Coast. That kid's name was Moe Green, and the city he invented was Las Vegas. This was a great man. ...a man of vision, and guts. And there isn't even a plaque or a signpost or a statue of him in that town!
One day, someone put a bullet through his eye. No one knows who gave the order. When I heard it, I wasn't angry. I knew Moe - I knew he was head-strong, talking loud, saying stupid things. So, when he turned up dead, I let it go. And I said to myself, "this is the business we've chosen." I didn't ask! ...who gave the order ...because it had nothing to do with business!
No sarcasm here. The point was made during the spygate "non-issue" about Bill Belichick breaking a league rule, whether or not other teams were also guilty of taping opponents defensive signals from an unauthorized position. The Patriots were caught and punished.
How is the breaking of the NFL Tampering rule any different for the Redskins? Because it's hard for the league to monitor? Because other teams do it too? If it gives a team an advantage over other teams that the league doesn't want it to have, then it is cheating and Goodell should treat it as such.
The Titans get no reward for this hurting their competitive ability?
No teams spied upon were awarded picks out of cheatgate either. A pick was lost to NFPLA as well, for a dues paying propsect.
Maybe Goodell will burn all evidence perhaps incriminating Snyder like he did for New England.Teams are having some layoffs and the elague is fining the owners. Perhaps this fine money could accelerate some due severance(coaches retirement fund comes to mind).
Great article Mr. Lombardi. I LOVE reading your stuff everyday, you're a tremendous writer. Your stuff is deeper and more intriguing than other writers around the web. Kudos to you and keep up the great work.
Just read a little ditty about how Goodell does consider SpyGate to be roughly 11x worse than Tampering.
Yet, tampering has been a headache in the NFL for a long long time. Anyone remember the charges brought against Miami over Don Shula - that raised a firestorm for awhile. It's something that probably needs a Rule flexing / technical language / whatever.... since, as most Articles suggest ... the practice does go on pretty regularly. The hard part being Teams can never actually bring proof, very often that is. Hence the reason that googling this up only brings roughly a half dozen examples.
Niners (Lance Briggs) is one
The Favre/Vikings charges
Raiders/Patriots over Moss
You get the idea.... bringing actual proof is the hassle.
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May 26, 2009
10:23 AM
Let's see if the NFL has the balls to smack Danny Boy's hand; I doubt it. They save their punishment for the weak owners like the York family. Christ, the Niners got treated like prison beeatches a couple of years ago, punished for going after a player THEY DIDN'T EVEN END UP SIGNING, Lance Briggs.
Friggin guy gets re-signed by his own team and the Niners lose a pick. Joke.