Question about draft

[I miss Dawkins]

I had a question about the legality of something in the draft. I am not saying that this is happening. It just crossed my mind and I wondered if it would be considered tampering or if there was something illegal about it.

Let's say that a team brings in a player to take a look at (for example, Eagles bring in Mariota for a look). Lets further assume that Mariota is due to go in the top 5, but really wants to play for Chip. Chip wants to draft him, but doesn't want to make the trades necessary to go from 20 to 5. But because both the player would rather go to the eagles instead of a team that would possibly not make him look as good or have the playoff caliber potential, the team and player make an agreement. The player will make himself look bad in order to drop in the draft. The team agrees to go up and get him if he drops to a certain point (maybe already having a willing trade partner). The team further agrees to compensate the player AS IF he had still been drafted in the top 5. So the player loses nothing, and goes to a more advantageous team. However, he manipulated the system by performing bad and purposefully trying to drop in the draft knowing a team would get him. The team ends up paying the player, and gets a player that would have been a trade up situation, but ended up having to give much much less (if anything at all) due to their agreement and him allowing himself to fall.

Once again, I am NOT saying that is what is going on. But I was just curious if that would be considered legal.

I remember when Eli Manning refused to go to a team that drafted him. That really surprised me, and I didn't think that was even possible. The teams ended up working something out to avoid an ugly situation and give the stubborn player what he wanted. As a sidenote, the Manning brothers saw their dad with incredible talent go to a poor team that greatly diminished the career he could have had. So I can see why he did it. Still, it seemed to go again the design of the draft and shorted a team of a top QB that they had a right to.

Does anyone know if such an agreement is against the rules/laws of the draft??

 

[deerpathdave]

Elway refused to sign with the Colts and forced a trade. Likewise, Kobe Bryant made it known he wouldn't play for several teams and dropped in the draft.

All that is legal. A player can make his preferences known.

What is outside the player's agreement is the idea of a team making up the monetary loss. There are specific dollars associated with slots in the draft and the teams don't have the much latitude to exceed those numbers.

 

[SoShady]

They used to have agreements for foreign players coming into the NBA draft. Promises to collegiate players if they were available at the pick. Players who refuse to workout for NBA teams because they believe they will be off the board when that team picks. Last year Kelvin Benjamin tanked workouts in the hopes of dropping to the Panthers.

LA Times

 

[Wings]

If a player is picked in the NFL draft, does the player have any say in which team they play for? If not, why not? - Quora

 

[Sharkonabicycle]

A player could try to perform badly in the combine to hopefully get a team further down to sign him but it's an incredibly risky move because nothing is certain and you're flirting with millions of dollars. Eagles may not be able to find a trade partner (and someone may take a gamble on him anyway thus costing Mariota). The new CBA prevents the Eagles from giving a 20th overall player a #2 worthy contract so that wouldn't work.... and despite Chip's loyalty to Mariota, Chip could be fired in 2-3 years, Mariota released (if he sucks) and then Mariota is out millions. You think Chip is gonna write him a personal check for the $15M+ extra he didn't get from #2 vs. #20? I doubt it.

The combine does influence draft position but it doesn't swing things THAT much (generally). Mostly the NCAA season/senior bowl etc. and there's just WAY too much uncertainty of where everything is going to be when that's happening. In essence, it would be EXTREMELY hard to PLAY the draft. There's WAY too many variables/trades/team interests, etc. going on.

A player drafted early can agree to not sign with a team, but unless the team trades his signing rights he is either a) Stuck with that team, or b) may hold out indefinitely in which case he is re-entered into the draft the following year.

While that may seem like a good idea, this can backfire tremendously since you're out of football for a year, teams move on via various means, and most FOs (if not all) will blacklist you. Elway essentially did this but he was just going to go play baseball.... Bo Jackson did the same thing as well. Eli Manning was picked up by the Chargers with the FULL intention of trading him for Rivers + picks before the pick even happened. The trade itself happened as soon as the Giants took Rivers. If you don't have an out though and a team isn't willing to negotiate, (and you want to play in the NFL) you're kind of stuck. Best you can do is forfeit the signing and go for it the following year, but that could be NFL career suicide.