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On Monday, the NFL announced that the 49ers will lose a 2025 fifth-round pick and will see their 2024 fourth-round pick fall four spots, to the bottom of the round, for a “clerical error” regarding player payroll in 2022. It was presented as an accident that created no competitive advantage and did not put the 49ers in violation of the salary cap.
But it’s still a major sanction, especially if it was an accident. In 2015, the NFL gave less of a punishment to the Falcons for piping fake crowd noise into the Georgia Dome. That year, the Falcons lost a fifth-round pick in the 2016 draft.
“What took place was wrong and nowhere near the standards by which we run our business,” owner Arthur Blank said at the time. “Anytime there are actions that compromise the integrity of the NFL or threaten the culture of our franchise, as this issue did, they will be dealt with swiftly and strongly.”
There are two explanations for the disparity in outcome. One, the 49ers situation was a bigger deal than they’re letting on. Two, the NFL went too easy on the Falcons.
Many will presume the latter. The fact that Rich McKay has held for years a position of high influence in league circles potentially insulates the Falcons from the kind of treatment that other teams (like the Patriots) would receive for similar infractions. (It also makes some wonder whether the blatant tampering with Kirk Cousins, and possibly Darnell Mooney, will be overlooked.)
It’s nevertheless possible that the NFL and the 49ers have opted to go with a “nothing to see here” approach as to the payroll irregularities. The NFL generally doesn’t want to paint its franchises publicly as corrupt, if that can be avoided. Congress already might be pondering the intersection of pro football and legalized gambling; any type of funny business by any NFL team could lead to an outcome that, for the league, there would be nothing funny about.
Also, even if the clerical error didn’t run afoul of the salary cap, extra cap space is freely…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/49ers-got-hit-harder-clerical-134206635.html
Author : ProFootball Talk on NBC Sports
Publish date : 2024-03-19 13:42:06
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