Trading a player before the start of the new league year in the NFL is tampering, and the Minnesota Vikings are wise to stay out of that mess for now.
This offseason has been an interesting one with many trades going down sending star players from one team to another despite the start of the new league year not until March 14, 2018. However, the Minnesota Vikings have not been involved in these trades so far.
The Vikings are smart to keep their name out of public trade conversations at this point. The reason for this is because laying the groundwork for these transactions is a bit of a grey area when it comes to legality.
Any kind of trade can’t officially take place after the trade deadline ends and before the start of the new league year. But that doesn’t stop teams from negotiating and agreeing to terms of a transaction before that date.
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Of course, fans, players, teams, and the league as a whole know this is all going on. It creates an awkward period where teams can’t discuss the players they have traded for or have traded away, but plan to have or be without those players going forward.
The real reason to avoid this kind of situation is the threat of being hit with tampering by the league. There are league rules in place that trades can’t happen, but as long as teams don’t officially announce the moves until the trade deadline arrives, the league hasn’t stepped in to do anything.
Not yet, anyway.
This forces general managers and coaches to be very awkward. SBNation recently recounted a conversation Andy Reid had with the media at the NFL Scouting Combine involving “trades” shipping Alex Smith and Marcus Peters out of Kansas City.
"“Before we get started here, I want to mention to you about Alex Smith and Marcus Peters and the situation that is out there. I can’t comment on that, so I’m sure you’re going to attempt to ask, so I’m going to be rude before that. I’m not going to be able to answer questions dealing with that. Until we get to the 14th, all of that is off limits.”"
The same sentiments were echoed by Chiefs GM Brett Veach and Rams GM Les Snead at the Combine to avoid getting hit with tampering despite the trades obviously being in place.
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So far, the Minnesota Vikings have avoided this grey area of tampering. Odds are that something will need to be done to limit this kind of trade in future seasons or at least make the trades less public, so keeping out of the situation entirely is wise for now…unless a great player is available and it becomes worth the risk of tampering.