Not a good sign (1 Viewer)

[MLU]

If any team gets a fine, it's going to be Carolina who agreed to a deal in principal with the UDFA before the draft was over and not the Saints, who drafted him. I know we all expect the Saints to be treated unfairly, but technically they didn't offer him anything as far as we know. They were trying to convince Stevens to come to New Orleans. When his agent broke off contact, the Saints simply took the decision out of his hands.

 

[Eman5805]

I resent two things:

1. clickbait thread titles
2. clickbait thread titles that lead to anything involving Peter King.

 

[jayd265]

wait. saints would be penalized for drafting a guy? its the panthers that had a deal in place. i know the saints were calling to get a deal, but they didnt have one. so they drafted him.

goodelll being goodell i guess.

 

[Igordão]

wait. saints would be penalized for drafting a guy? its the panthers that had a deal in place. i know the saints were calling to get a deal, but they didnt have one. so they drafted him.

goodelll being goodell i guess.

It is stupid but the saints would be penalized for offering him money, not for drafting him.

 

[DCSaints_Fan]

The only solution to this problem is going to be to set a standard wage scale for all rookies, including UDFA. Their contract would depend on draft position, and all UDFAs would make the same.

They could also go back to a deeper draft. It used to be something like 12 rounds

 

[UFCSaint]

OK... Why would the league punish the Saints? This the the draft. Every teams do this.... Move up to get someone just because another team is trying to get that person too. If Payton knew the other team is signing him or taking him, then he did it legally by trading picks to get him. So what's the problem there? Payton didn't offer any money there. In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with anything that was done.

Yeah there is no way they will punish the Saints for something that the rest of the league already does.

 

[football]

It is stupid but the saints would be penalized for offering him money, not for drafting him.

I may be nieve in this but don't every teams do this as far as getting undrafted players to sign with them? I may be wrong but there are negotiations in place for player projected not be drafted. After the drafts, teams are quickly signing players left and right. I am pretty sure players' agents are constantly on the phone with teams getting the best money possible for their clients to sign with who ever gives the best offer. And all that is before the draft ended. So I don't see how we would be punished for this. I have no problem with changing the rule but punishing us for something like this is, to me, is agenda driven.

 

[football]

OK... Why would the league punish the Saints? This the the draft. Every teams do this.... Move up to get someone just because another team is trying to get that person too. If Payton knew the other team is signing him or taking him, then he did it legally by trading picks to get him. So what's the problem there? Payton didn't offer any money there. In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with anything that was done.

I stand corrected with this statement. Payton did offer money if left undrafted to convince him to join the team instead, but Steven didn't want to break that committement. Therefore he had to draft him.

 

[J.T.]

Knowing the way the crooked NFL works, they will take the player and give him to the Panthers and dock us a fifth round pick next year. And, Peter King is a jerk and a mouthpiece for the league.

 

[CDeuce26]

Hypocrisy. Look at how many UDFAs are signed within hours of the end of the draft. No way.

You mean minutes?

 

[HouseCall]

If any team gets a fine, it's going to be Carolina who agreed to a deal in principal with the UDFA before the draft was over and not the Saints, who drafted him. I know we all expect the Saints to be treated unfairly, but technically they didn't offer him anything as far as we know. They were trying to convince Stevens to come to New Orleans. When his agent broke off contact, the Saints simply took the decision out of his hands.

In one of the many articles written about this where it seemed like Ireland and Payton were very openly discussing the transaction, it was stated that we offered double the Carolina offer and when he turned that down, we drafted him. So it seems like Payton did make a mistake there.

I honestly had no idea there were so many restrictions on UDFA interactions during the draft. I always assumed it was a given considering the number of players signed almost immediately following the draft.

I guess in the end, we ended up drafting the guy, so had Payton been mum about the process nobody would have been the wiser about the other stuff.

 

[CAVALIER]

In this morning’s column Peter King wrote this about the Saints drafting Tommy Stevens away from Panthers, . “I think it’s good to see the league, via Mike Florio’s reporting, emphasize that undrafted free agents cannot reach agreement with any team before the end of the draft. The only way the league will be able to enforce this and make it a real rule is to hit offending teams hard. It’s always been one of the league’s most flouted rules, agreeing to deals with undrafted guys before the draft ends and signing that night. If the league really wants it to stop, a hefty fine to a confirmed offender would go a long way toward stopping it.“
We all know that Peter King has been a mouthpiece for the commissioner over the years enjoying an inside status. You can bet Goodell planted this with King making it look like the respected writer agreed with his actions BEFORE he announced them.
The question is will Goodell settle for just the hefty fine King suggests which would be good news for Saints and Panthers or will he dock draft picks to use them as examples to other teams to discourage this practice going forward.
There is no way to conclude (based on the rapidity of each teams announcing their UDFAs within minutes of the end of the draft ) anything other than ALL teams did exactly what the Saints and Panthers did. If the Saints get docked draft pick(s), I would blow up the whole system by divulging their experiences with every UDFA in the last effin ten years and how many had offers by named specific teams.
At what point do you continue to take unfair treatment sitting down? All that being said, this is just another example of the arrogance and stupidity of Coach Payton talking about this publicly. The league has been out to get the Saints ever since he threatened to embarrass the commissioner by boycotting the post Super Bowl winning press conference because of a bad hangover. He needs to grow up at some point:

Saint will be crushed again

 

[Super44]

OK... Why would the league punish the Saints? This the the draft. Every teams do this.... Move up to get someone just because another team is trying to get that person too. If Payton knew the other team is signing him or taking him, then he did it legally by trading picks to get him. So what's the problem there? Payton didn't offer any money there. In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with anything that was done.

He obviously spoke with Stevens and may have attempted to negotiate a F/A signing of Stevens, when he found out Stevens was committed to signing a F/A contract with the Panthers. Now what comes into question is, did the Saints make a VERBAL offer to Stevens, before they moved up to draft him? If not, there should be no issue for the Saints. But it could get sticky, IF Payton made an offer to sign Stevens as an UDFA before the starting time to do so. The fact the Saints moved back into the 7th round to draft Stevens, is obvious something was in play with the Panthers already. Saints/Payton could have acidentally and carelessly incriminated themselves. If they just would have drafted Stevens and Payton would not have allowed his ego to step up with the comment he made, it may not be a thing.

Payton should watch some Godfather movies and learn to keep his business private.

 

[Super44]

Yeah there is no way they will punish the Saints for something that the rest of the league already does.

Do not go to Vegas and bet. You are clueless. IF the Saints violated the rules, it is their fault and stupidity. What I cannot understand, is WHY did Payton make any comments, regarding on what went down?

 

[baarbogast]

The only solution to this problem is going to be to set a standard wage scale for all rookies, including UDFA. Their contract would depend on draft position, and all UDFAs would make the same.

They could also go back to a deeper draft. It used to be something like 12 rounds

The players don’t want that, As a UDFA you get to choose where you go, that gives them the best chance to make a team.