NFL Expected To Rule On Eagles' Tampering Allegations This Week

The league has been investigating potential impermissible contact between the Eagles and Saquon Barkley.

Eagles RB Saquon Barkley / John McMullen/Eagles SI

PHILADELPHIA - Things are reportedly coming to a head with the NFL's tampering investigation of the Eagles stemming from an off-the-cuff remark by Penn State football coach James Franklin after Philadelphia signed free-agent running back Saquon Barkley to a three-year, $37.75 million contract in free agency.

ESPN's Adam Schefter reported that the league is likely to rule this week on whether the Eagles and the Atlanta Falcons violated tampering rules during the legal negotiating window regarding Barkley and veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins.

Barkley’s college coach with the Nittany Lions was asked about his former player’s good fortune after the deal was made and told reporters that Eagles general manager Howie Roseman spoke to Barkley during the legal negotiating period and pitched the star RB on the synergy between the Eagles and Penn State fan bases.

That kind of contact is not permitted and teams are only allowed to engage with agents, not the players themselves during the negotiating period.

"For him now to come back and be able to play within the state, in Philadelphia, he said that was one of the first things that Howie said to him on the phone as part of his sales pitch to him was not only the Philadelphia Eagles and that but obviously the connection with Penn State and the fan base as well,” Franklin said.

From there Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio, who has a legal background, picked up the baton on the issue, which if true, is clearly out of bounds.

The Eagles’ denied the allegation and Barkley later claimed Franklin “misinterpreted” the situation.

“Coach Franklin, I think he kind of misinterpreted it,” Barkley said. "The truth was the sales pitch of how many Penn State fans are Philadelphia Eagles fans, that was through my agent [Ed Berry]. My agent told me that."

Nonetheless, the NFL has been reviewing the matter of the past couple of months.

"I let them do their thing. I respect their process. They have to do it," Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie said at the league's annual meetings. "... "We're very comfortable with everything, with our activity. We know exactly what we're doing. So it's not -- we just have to rely on the NFL to do its work and respect that. I'm sure they will."

The case against Atlanta seems stronger because Cousins inadvertently confirmed tampering at his introductory press conference after signing a monster deal with the Falcons.

“There's great people here. And it's not just the football team,” Cousins said. “I mean, I'm looking at the support staff. Meeting -- calling, yesterday, calling our head athletic trainer, talking to our head of PR I'm thinking, we got good people here. And that's exciting to be a part of."

By league rule Cousins wasn't permitted to speak to anyone with the Falcons before the start of the newe league year.

The Eagles’ explanation is essentially the adult version of the Telephone Game in which the original unfiltered information is modified as it’s passed from person to person.

Notably, one NFL source from the New York side told SI.com’s Eagles Today that Philadelphia’s interest in Barkley was well-known throughout the league and dated back to last year when the Eagles were hoping the Giants would not put the franchise tag on the former Penn State star.

What the league is typically focused on with tampering investigations is officiating specific-rule infractions like Arizona’s illegal contact with Jonathan Gannon in the days after the Eagles NFC Championship Game win or Andy Reid’s flirtation with Jeremy Maclin with the Kansas City Chiefs when K.C. lost a 2016 third-round pick and 2017 sixth-round pick for contacting Maclin directly during the negotiating period.

The Gannon issue launched 1,000 conspiracy theories in the Delaware Valley with many Eagles fans clinging to the belief that the former defensive coordinator cost Philadelphia Super Bowl LVII and his planned successor, Vic Fangio, with underhandedness in concert with the Arizona Cardinals.

The actual mistake by the Cards was procedural: failing to adhere to league rules and waiting until after the Super Bowl to contact Gannon about an eventual interview. Fangio, then a consultant with the Eagles, had already agreed to become the DC in Miami on the day of the NFC Championship Game.

That penalty was the Cardinals sending the Eagles their 2024 fifth-round pick as well as swapping the 2023 66th overall pick for the Eagles’ 94th as penance for what was improper communication with Gannon.

According to an NFL source, the Eagles proactively pursuing punishment factored into the NFL's action in both cases which could throw a curveball into the mix here.

When it comes to the Eagles and the Barkley situation, it’s hard to believe that a veteran GM like Roseman would make personal contact with Barkley during the negotiating window.

That said at least one separate NFL source speculated that the Eagles may get dinged by the league as a sort of "a compilation penalty" for the past transgressions and complaints ruffling the feathers of others.

“Don’t forget Vic," the source said referring to Fangio, who left the Dolphins after one year to take over the Eagles' defense this season. "More than a few believe there was something off there and the Eagles might be viewed as getting a little too brazen with this stuff.

"The league might be looking to set an example."

That kind of universal thought process could open a Pandora's Box that the league would want to be left alone, however.

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