The Kansas City Chiefs have officially filed an appeal on the National Football League’s tampering penalty.
Kansas City found out that it would be without a third-round pick this year and a sixth-round selection next year thanks to an NFL tampering penalty back on March 9.
The penalty was leveled on the Chiefs because the league stated that the team had directly contacted Jeremy Maclin during the legal tampering period last year. According to NFL rules, a team can only talk to the agents at that time, not the players. Now, according to Terez Paylor of the Kansas City Star, owner Clark Hunt and the organization are appealing the findings.
"“We’re in the very beginning process of that,” Hunt said. “We’ve not had a discussion with the league on the (timeline), but I’ll say from our standpoint, we would like it done by the draft.”"
This is absolutely the right move. The only other tampering penalty in league history came down years ago, and the Chicago Bears were only docked a fifth-round pick. Not to mention legions of players, teams and agents are guilty of this every season, and somehow the Chiefs are getting popped for it.
It would be stunning if Kansas City still loses a third-round selection when the dust settles.