The way in which former Pittsburgh Steelers receiver Emmanuel Sanders reached a deal with the Denver Broncos reportedly has teams upset. One of those teams, the Kansas City Chiefs, may file a grievance against Sanders and his agent for breaking "every rule in negotiations," Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reports.
Denver introduced Sanders on Sunday as their newest free agent signing. How Sander went about getting his new contract -- a three-year deal worth $15 million, according to ESPN -- has some NFL teams, though, calling foul.
"Agent Steve Weinberg, on behalf of (Sanders), accepted a deal with the Chiefs in principle, according to one team source," Rapoport wrote on Sunday. "Weinberg then engaged in negotiations with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, according to another source involved in the process.
"While shopping the Chiefs' offer to the Bucs, Weinberg never explained that he had already accepted the terms of Kansas City's offer. Later in the night, Sanders' agent had agreed to terms with the Broncos, which is where he is currently headed. Sanders and Weinberg also rankled the 49ers by agreeing to visit, then blowing it off."
One executive involved described it as "one of the worst situations in modern football negotiations," according to Rapoport.
Both teams and players are obligated by the Collective Bargaining Agreement to negotiate in good faith. Kansas City could file a grievance against Sanders and Weinberg for allegedly failing to honor an agreement made in principle, according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk.
"The argument would be that Weinberg failed to engage in good faith negotiations by conducting talks with the Chiefs despite having no intention to finalize the discussions," Florio wrote on Sunday. "The grievance process could result in a conclusion that, if sufficient proof exists of an agreement in principle, failure to proceed to the signing of a contract without reasonable excuse necessarily becomes evidence of bad faith."
For his part, Sanders denied ever having a deal in place with Kansas City.
"That entire situation is a business ordeal that some people have turned into a personal matter," Sanders said on Sunday during his introductory press conference, via ESPN. "... There was no handshake, there was no kind of agreement, we were close to a deal, but there wasn't anything official just yet."
