The Patriots and their fans are up in arms at the NFL at the moment because of the penalties the league assessed as a result of their finding that the team likely tampered with footballs used in the AFC Championship game, but one of their AFC East rivals has no such gripe with the league right now.
Adam Beasley of the Miami Herald reports that a spokesman for the league has confirmed that the NFL found the Dolphins did not violate rules against tampering with players on other teams before signing defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh as a free agent.
The issue arose because reports of Suh’s impending deal with the Dolphins, including length and financial details, went public before the official start of free agency. Teams are permitted to speak to agents during a three-day “legal tampering” window, but are barred from agreeing to terms until free agency gets underway.
The Lions didn’t lodge a complaint, perhaps because the practice seemed to be widespread during that three-day period when it would be naive at best to suggest that agents and teams were talking about anything other than years and dollars. The league did fine the Jets $100,000 for comments owner Woody Johnson made about welcoming cornerback Darrelle Revis back to the team when he was still under contract to the Patriots.
