Lions docked seventh-round pick for anti-tampering violation
By Jason La Canfora NFL Network
NFL Network Insider
Published: Feb. 18, 2011 at 02:17 p.m. Updated: Feb. 18, 2011 at 07:27 p.m.
Following a review and a hearing, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell determined Friday that the Detroit Lions violated the league's anti-tampering policy by publicly commenting about their desire to acquire players then under contract to the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Lions also were cited for impermissible contact with a player (or his agent) then under contract to the Chiefs. According to the Detroit Free Press, the player in question was safety Jarrad Page, whom the Chiefs traded to the New England Patriots last year.
Goodell decided on the following disciplinary action to resolve the matter:
The Lions will forfeit their seventh-round selection (acquired from the Denver Broncos) in the 2011 NFL Draft.
The Chiefs and Lions will switch fifth-round picks in the 2011 draft. As a result, Kansas City now owns the ninth selection in that round and Detroit the 23rd.
Either team may appeal the decision by advising Goodell in writing of its desire to do so by Feb. 28.
The violations occurred in 2010 and center around Lions defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham, who served as the Chiefs' coordinator from 1995 to 2000. He told the Free Press that he wouldn't mind signing players the Chiefs might release.
"(Kansas City) keeps wanting to dump their players. I would like to be there to catch a lot of them because I know a couple of those guys," Cunningham told the newspaper in February 2010.
The Chiefs filed tampering charges against the Lions to initiate the proceeding.