Eagles deny tampering with Saquon Barkley before start of free agency

[time2rock]

Eagles deny tampering with Saquon Barkley before start of free agency

Penn State head coach James Franklin's comments about Saquon Barkley's contact with the Eagles are raising eyebrows about tampering violations.

BY SHAMUS CLANCY
PhillyVoice Staff

VINCENT CARCHIETTA/USA TODAY

Saquon Barkley's college coach, James Franklin, mentioned that Howie Roseman was in contract with the Eagles before free agency.

Adamper is already being put on the Eagles' signing of Saquon Barkley.

Penn State football head coach James Franklin, who coached Barkley in State College, made off-hand comments this week about Barkley's connection with his home state of Pennsylvania when signing with the Birds. The issue? He said that Eagles general manager Howie Roseman was in contact with Barkley ahead of time, a big no-no during the "legal tampering" period when teams are only allowed to speak with agents, not players:

The Eagles have denied impermissible contact with Barkley. ESPN's Tim McManus provided more information on the matter:

An Eagles spokesperson said that all recruiting done by the team is facilitated through the agent.

The NFL declined to comment on whether it is investigating possible impermissible contact. An Eagles spokesperson said he was unaware of any communication from the league to the team on the subject as of Wednesday evening.

The New York Giants have not reached out to the league about the matter, according to a source. [ESPN]

It remains to be seen how the Giants will handle this situation:

This type of tampering is likely way more common than the league wants to admit, but speaking out about, as Franklin did, is always going to cause issues to pop up.

UPDATE:

Well, the NFL is now looking into the potential tampering:

This is a developing story...

https://www.phillyvoice.com/eagles-news-free-agency-tampering-rule-violation-saquon-barkley-james-franklin-penn-state-giants/