It hasn’t necessarily been a good past 12 months for the Baltimore Ravens. From the entire Ray Rice scandal to the organization’s response to it, things have not gone right for owner Steve Bisciotti and company.
If at all possible, it’s been an even worse year for the Ravens social media team.
None of this changed on Wednesday evening when the Ravens unknowingly committed a potential tampering violation when openly discussing the possible return of Haloti Ngata, who the team traded to the Detroit Lions last month.
Steve Bisciotti doesn't rule out the possibility of Haloti Ngata returning to Baltimore after this season. Will be a free agent in 2016.
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) April 1, 2015
No. Just no.
This is the Ravens providing evidence that owner Steve Bisciotti violated the league’s tampering rules.
Here’s the problem:
Any public or private statement of interest, qualified or unqualified, in another club’s player to that player’s agent or representative, or to a member of the news media, is a violation of the Anti-Tampering Policy.” The NFL’s anti-tampering policy reads.
Bisciotti’s comments came during a conference call with the team’s season ticket holders—a conference call that media members took part in.
This all comes on the heels of the league investigating Jets owner Woody Johnson for potentially tampering with Darrelle Revis before he signed with the team last month. Coincidentally, the Jets have also filed tampering charges against the New England Patriots.
Seems a bit convoluted, right? Wrong.
The wording from the league cannot be more clear here. Bisciotti’s comments were directed at a player who is currently under contract with the Lions. Those comments were made with media members in attendance.
And the Ravens Twitter account provided clear evidence of the tampering.
Talk about an epic fail at every level.
Photo: USA Today Sports