Uncharted waters indeed.
A memo sent by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on Friday to all 32 clubs observant that “any proclamation of an agreement or an agreement in element by a bar or another party…may theme a bar to a tampering investigation,” has so distant supposing some-more provocation for teams to re-sign their possess giveaway agents.
It’s other impact? Teams and players’ agents seem hold in an undercurrent of confusion.
Goodell’s memo on a manners of engagement, that was performed by USA TODAY Sports, has had a chilling effect, undercutting what seemed to be a vigilant of a new three-day, pre-free group understanding — selling between teams and players about to turn giveaway agents. Instead, meddlesome teams have hold off from swinging specific, remunerative deals to players they covet for fear they’ll prompt tampering allegations.
The league’s repetition of restrictions on a inlet of talks teams and agents representing unlimited giveaway agents can rivet in before to giveaway agency’s central opening — 4 p.m. ET Tuesday — seems to have thwarted a demoniac recruiting rush agents evisioned.
“It’s not good since this minute put a duration on teams negotiating,” Hadley Engelhard, who represents free-agent Baltimore Ravens linebacker Dannell Ellerbe, told USA TODAY Sports on Saturday.
Engelhard says he listened from “several” teams when a selling window non-stop Saturday, including one bar that called during “12:01” a.m. But a calls were some-more an bid to sign interest.
“We suspicion during this duration we’d all be negotiating deals and articulate numbers and being specific,” Engelhard said.
“And now this new minute from a NFL prohibts teams from doing that. It’s altered what teams can and can't do. It’s going to be a small bit slower weekend than we suspicion it would be.”
Even a teams were a bit nonplussed by a NFL’s latest memos.
Two agreement negotiatiors for NFC teams told USA TODAY Sports they were primarily underneath a sense they could speak numbers with agents during a three-day negotiating period, with a usually condition being any agreement wouldn’t be binding. The negotiators, who spoke on condition of anonymity since they weren’t during autocracy to plead a manners publicly, pronounced a league’s memo dark a manners by indicating usually general, deficient financials could be negotiated.
Joe Browne, comparison confidant to a commissioner, pronounced on Twitter on Saturday, “One purpose of a 3-day duration is to have sell of info re $$$ to see if both sides are in same zip code. Nothing binding.”
Free-agent parsimonious finish Martellus Bennett tweeted, “Lol there was suspect to be a ton of football news currently though good ol Goodell close that down. Lol. Now we all have to wait angrily. Lol.”
Agent David Canter pronounced Goodell’s memo total with “more new ubiquitous managers than ever before” has teams “more fearful than normal.”
“As it relates to this three-day giveaway representative window, it’s a pitch and a skip since of a memo that came out final night,” Canter said.
“Had a memo not come out there would be significantly some-more information out there. And there would be players that would determine to terms. we told teams before to a memo, ‘If we gave me a understanding on Friday night, Saturday morning and it was good enough, when we determine to terms, we have my word — that’s a deal.
“And if someone comes in with a million a year some-more in a 11th hour, if my client’s already agreed, we’re holding a deal.”
Teams ‘more hesitant’
Joe Linta represents San Francisco 49ers defensive finish Ricky Jean Francois after alighting a record-setting, $120.6-million, six-year understanding final Sunday for Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco.
Linta had fielded several feeler calls from teams by early Saturday afternoon, though usually to sign mutual interest.
“The discussions we had were general in nature, in terms of ‘Do we consider you’d be interested?’ ” Linta told USA TODAY Sports.
“Teams substantially got fearful of entrance to an agreement and things leaking out and someone checking out who a leaker was and it gets them in trouble.
“Teams are substantially a small some-more hesitant. The agents don’t care.”
The vigilant of a window that non-stop during midnight Friday had been to equivocate blatant tampering by providing a window in that clubs and agents could emporium and review offers before a marketplace strictly opens Tuesday.
“That was what we were told until yesterday when Roger Goodell wrote a minute to all a teams saying, ‘Hey, we cannot…,’ ” Engelhard said.
“The Ravens can speak to us (about Ellerbe), your existent group can. But another group can’t speak specific numbers per say, that we suspicion we would be means to.”
That doesn’t meant teams won’t cut deals that they keep underneath wraps before announcing them after Tuesday’s opening. But a categorical movement so distant has been agents selling for meddlesome teams as a approach to coax new deals with players’ stream teams.
As of mid-afternoon Saturday, a Buffalo Bills had reached an agreement with returner/cornerback Leodis McKelvin on a four-year, $20-million agreement and a Atlanta Falcons announced they had re-signed reserve William Moore.
The Washington Redskins reached agreement on multi-year deals with dual limited giveaway agents, fullback Darrel Young and parsimonious finish Logan Paulsen, that saves Washington from charity one-year tenders or carrying to compare other teams’ offers.
“It (Goodell’s memo) has done teams that wanted to keep their possess giveaway agents maybe work a small harder during this point,” Linta said.
“They don’t wish to give other teams that three-day conduct start. So they unequivocally wish to put their best feet brazen to try and get somebody signed.”
As Canter said, “Obviously, we wish to emanate that inhabitant signing-day thing. And we wish to get a groundswell.
“But we can’t change a manners of a diversion an hour before a diversion is played.”
Contributing: Mike Garafolo
Article source: http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2013/03/09/nfl-free-agents-roger-goodell-memo/1975873/