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Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be fined for impermissible contact with players during the lockout

According to CBS' Charlie Casserly, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be fined for impermissible contact with their players during the lockout. Raheem Morris hinted at talking to his players in a radio interview during the lockout, and it seems that wasn't just idle talk. 

Because the NFL locked out the players earlier this year in a labor dispute, the teams were instructed not to have any contact with their own players. This made it hard for teams to monitor rehabbing players and get their rookies up to speed. 

According to Pro Football Talk, the Bucs were caught placing seven calls to players. One of them was to Kellen Winslow to congratulate him on the birth of a child, another call was placed to LB Niko Koutouvides. Pro Football Talk says that during the lockout, it was reported that any coach violating the rules against lockout contact would be fired. I wouldn't expect that threat to ever be carried through. 

Of course, the Bucs probably aren't the only team to have some contact with their players, though they may be the only team to get caught. I'm sure that the team is willing to pay any fine for whatever small competitive advantage they got out of this.