On Thursday, FOXSports.com's Alex Marvez and Adam Caplan reported that the Kansas City Chiefs have filed a tampering charge against the Detroit Lions. Tampering is when one team interferes with the "employer-employee relationship" of another franchise or attempts to "impermissibly induce a person to seek employment with that team or the NFL itself."
The exact details of the Chiefs' grievance are currently unknown, but Lions defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham may be one of the people named in it. Cunningham coached in Kansas City before coming to Detroit and has made general comments about players still on the Chiefs. For example, this was said back in February:
"[The Chiefs] keep 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."
At face value, the comment didn't seem like a big deal, but Pro Football Talk made it one by characterizing Cunningham's statement as a "textbook violation of the tampering rules." The NFL disagreed, as a spokesman told Tom Kowalski a day later that Cunningham's comments hadn't even "registered at a league level" because no specific players were named.
It's not clear if Cunningham's comments are at the heart of this tampering charge or if it is something else, such as the Lions' interest in former Chiefs safety Jarrad Page, who was traded to New England in the offseason. The Lions reportedly were very interested in trading for him, so perhaps the Chiefs alleged that tampering occurred with him. Right now it's unknown what exactly prompted this grievance.
If the Lions are found guilty of tampering, they could be fined and/or lose at least one draft pick.
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