Mike Florio and Chris Simms explain why they believe the Andrew Luck situation could’ve been an attempt to try to gain more draft leverage.

Video Transcript

- Andrew Luck, Captain Andrew Luck is back. The tampering thing that popped up a few weeks ago when Jim Irsay tweeted a warning to anyone who would try to contact the retired Colts quarterback. If you do, It's a violation of the tampering policy. Now, my personal belief, and we've talked about this, the Jonathan Gannon tampering resolution between the Cardinals and Eagles created an incentive for teams to cry foul because maybe I can accuse someone of tampering, and now I can come out of it with higher draft standing the next time around, because that's what happened as a result of the Gannon tampering by the Cardinals against the Eagles.

This is all done now. This is dead. This is over. This is going nowhere. And Chris, I think it's as simple as the NFL telling Irsay and everybody else, sorry, the Gannon thing is not a new precedent. It's not a new pathway to getting draft picks. It doesn't create an incentive for you to claim that someone was tampering. It was just the way we handled one specific situation. It does not apply going forward. I think that's how the Andrew Luck tampering question was resolved.

- Yeah. I don't doubt that, or at least that like, hey, the Andrew Luck thing wasn't nearly as aggressive and as many rules broken as the Arizona thing. The Andrew Luck thing I envision, again, that somebody called representation. Like, hey, do you think he'd come back and play? Oh no? OK, boom.

I mean, but I really think it could have been as simple as that. It's just a gauge. Like, hey, we're looking at your options at quarterback. We're going to gauge your interest if you still want to play, right? So it's not nearly as aggressive. I think you and I think there was a lot more.

- Still tampering.

- I know. Still tampering, I know. Right. I know. I know. But it still seems like that's the kind of tampering we know that goes on all the time. The other one, I think we both get the feeling that there was more done behind the scenes and it took away from the biggest game of the year because there was severe tampering going on there as well. So I don't know. A little bit of both, I guess, is what I'm saying, Mike, that I think went on there.

- And look, it was strange because on Sunday night, the "Washington Post" reported there likely wouldn't be enough evidence to do anything. And then by Monday, ESPN reported it's been resolved to the Colts satisfaction. So did they really investigate it? It wouldn't be all that difficult to come up with a strategy and an approach to get to the bottom of whether or not there was a call made to Andrew Luck or his dad, Oliver, or his uncle/agent, or someone else during this time that the Commanders were looking high and low for a new quarterback.

You look at the phone records. You look at the text messages. You look at the emails. It would take some time to do it, but it wouldn't be that hard to do it if you really wanted to. I think the NFL just didn't want to do it. They don't like doing this. They rarely enforce the tampering rules. I think that they're concerned big picture about the world becoming aware that there's plenty of cheating and corruption happening on a regular basis by the NFL's teams, especially when it comes to tampering. All right, the only bad news about the end of the--

- Bad news?

- --tampering saga.

- We get to hear from the great one.

- No, but this is the last time we'll hear from him until the next time.

- We think. Right.

- Because Captain Andrew Luck is back. I yield the floor to--

- Oh, thank you very much, Michael Florio. "Thank you, dearest mother. My beard has been tapered, but not tampered. Thusly, I shall resume my quiet days in my Appalachian cabin, reading to the birds, a basket with spiced beaver thighs and fresh squirrel oil is on the way. It was lovely to correspond once more. I love you, Andrew."

[MUSIC PLAYING]

What up, Andrew? I'll miss you.

- You know, it's funny. You decided about halfway through that the voice wasn't working, so you just went back to your own voice.

- I had to get--

- You realized it was funny, so you went back.

- I was little too much. Yeah. I was a little too much at first right. Yeah. Right. I lost my touch there. I'm not as-- I'm not a well-oiled machine with my Captain Andrew Luck since we don't get to do it as much anymore.