On December 2, news leaked out that the Kansas City Chiefs had filed a tampering claim against the Detroit Lions. According to a statement released by the NFL, the Lions are guilty.
Their punishment is getting stripped of their 2011 seventh round draft pick and switching spots with the Chiefs in the fifth round. That means the Chiefs go from the 23rd pick in the fifth round to the ninth pick in that round.
The statement by the NFL identified two reasons for the charge.
First, the Lions made public comments about potentially wanting Chiefs players on their team if they're released. These are believed to be the comments from Lions defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham in February 2010:
"(Kansas City) keeps wanting to dump their players. I would like to be there to catch a lot of them because I know a couple of those guys."
Curiously, an NFL spokesman said at the time that those words hadn't even registered with them. Now, apparently, they're part of the Lions guilty charge int he tampering charge.
The second part of the charge comes from the Lions impermissible contact with a Chiefs player under contract. Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press reports that player is Jarrad Page. If you'll recall, Page was in a contract dispute with the Chiefs last summer (he didn't sign his restricted free agent tender) and his agent went on Kansas City radio and said he knows there's interest in his client out there. How did he know? Apparently from talking to the Lions, according to reports.