It seems the league is taking Cleveland Browns GM Ray Farmer's decision to send an impermissible text message to the sidelines during a game last year and the Atlanta Falcons use of fake crowd noise during games at the Georgia Dome at different junctures over the past several seasons, pretty seriously.
Farmer will face an unspecified suspension and Falcons president Rich McKay will likely face a suspension from the league's competition committee, according to a report from Adam Schefter of ESPN.
Schefter is also reporting that both teams will pay "hefty fines."
The Falcons, according to both Schefter and Ian Rapoport of NFL.com, will also lose a draft pick, though neither report indicated what pick.
The Browns, on the other hand, will avoid the loss of a draft pick, per Schefter.
Farmer allegedly sent a text message from his position in the press box to the sideline during a game last season in an attempt to express his opinion on "playcalling and use of personnel," sources told Mary Kay Cabot of Cleveland.com.
Farmer admitted to team owner Jimmy Haslam last week that he did, in fact, send the text, but Haslam was adamant that he remains firmly behind his now-embattled GM.
"Ray Farmer knows and has (said to the Browns) he made a mistake in sending those texts,'' said Haslam, per Cabot. "Ray feels terrible about it. Ray's a guy who has utmost integrity. I think it is important for you all to know that Ray has the organization's and my full support and despite the fact that he made a mistake here it does not affect his standing with the Browns."
For the Falcons, team owner Arthur Blank freely admitted that what his team did was wrong and said that despite the lapse in judgement, it does not indicate the type of culture the Falcons have developed during his ownership.
"It's not really a fine line," Blank told The Associated Press. "I think what we've done in 2013 and 2014 was wrong. Anything that affects the competitive balance and fairness on the field, we're opposed to, as a league, as a club and as an owner. It's obviously embarrassing but beyond embarrassing it doesn't represent our culture and what we're about."
While it's unlikely that the lost draft pick will come in the early rounds, in the NFL it always hurts to miss out on another opportunity to add talent to your team.
