NFL Seems to Be Aiming at Patriots With Another Potential Rule Change

One rule that will be voted on during the virtual Spring League Meeting this week will attempt to close yet another loophole exploited by the Patriots in recent years.

The re-scheduled virtual Spring League Meetings are set to take place today, Tuesday, May 19, and Wednesday, May 20. It's an opportunity for team owners and the league to touch base with each other ahead of the 2020 season, as well as voting on some potential rule changes. 

Among the rule changes that will be voted upon is one loophole that New England exploited last year in an attempt retain director or player personnel Nick Caserio. The MMQB's Albert Breer explained the rule change that will be voted upon during his MAQB column on Monday. 

I think an underrated change that’ll be voted on this week, tucked into the tampering rule change proposals, was this one: “No club may include in any employment contract provisions restricting opportunities for upward mobility. Such clauses include a right to match; a designation of the moves to another club; or a commitment on the employee as a 'high-level' employee; a requirement for compensation if the employee moves to another club; or a commitment on the employee’s part to refuse any request to interview for a position with another club, or other limitations in addition to those established by this Policy. This does not prohibit a contractual commitment to promote the employee to a high-level employee as currently permitted."

Last year, the Patriots were able to block Caserio from interviewing with the Houston Texans for their general manager job. They were able to do that because it was written in Caserio's contract that New England can restrict him from interviewing with teams if they wish to do so. That didn't allegedly stop the Texans from talking with Caserio, which is why New England then filed tampering charges against Houston. 

As Breer pointed out in his column, the Patriots wanted to add that same clause into then-college scouting director Jon Robinson's contract in 2013, but Robinson refused, let his contract run out, and then joined the Tampa Bay Buccaneers front-office in 2014. 

There was rumored tension between Caserio and Bill Belichick once Caserio was blocked from interviewing with the Texans. But there has been nothing done or said since then that proves that rumor to be true. In February, Caserio and New England agreed on a multi-year extension. His contract was set to expire after the 2020 NFL Draft, so it was important that the Patriots got a deal done with him before then. 

Follow Devon Clements on Twitter @DevClemNFL for more news and notes about the New England Patriots.