Chiefs can complain, but earned tampering penalty

The Kansas City Chiefs deserved what they got from Roger Goodell to a large degree.

Everyone is losing their minds over the Kansas City Chiefs being docked a third-round draft pick in the 2016 NFL Draft for tampering in regards to their Jeremy Maclin signing. The punishment was handed out by commissioner Roger Goodell, and fans are furious.

While the penalties are the harshest in league history for tampering, the Chiefs have nobody to blame but themselves. They got caught for doing something they were not supposed to do, and now have to deal with the loss of a third-round selection this year and a sixth-round pick next year.

It is understandable that Chiefs fans want to throw tomatoes at Goodell, who seems to deal out suspension and fines with the accuracy of a blindfolded man throwing a dart. There is no precedent set for a team getting caught for tampering and losing so much, but when you break rules, you open yourself up to problems.

Ultimately, general manager John Dorsey and head coach Andy Reid have to be smarter than this. They weren’t last year, and the team is paying the price. Losing a third-round pick isn’t the end of the world, but it certainly hurts. The Chiefs have done a great job building this team under the current regime, but this is a ridiculously bad blunder.

At some point, people have to stop blaming Goodell and start looking at the root cause. If the Chiefs did nothing wrong – and they have admitted that they did – there wouldn’t be an unfair punishment. This is the reality of making a dumb error and then being at the mercy of someone who is clueless.