Earlier this week, Sean Payton revealed that the New Orleans Saints traded up to select Tommy Stevens in the 2020 NFL Draft after finding out the Carolina Panthers were close to striking a deal with him as an undrafted free agent rookie. On the other hand, Carolina is denying the fact that they had a deal in place with Stevens.

Panthers spokesman Steve Drummond refuted the report in a text message sent to Pro Football Talk:

“We didn’t have a deal in place with the player … We had conversations like every other team.”

According to Payton, he heard rumblings that the Panthers were speaking to Stevens about an undrafted free agent contract in the seventh round. In addition, Payton said that Carolina agreed to a deal with Stevens.

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Rather than letting Stevens sign with the Panthers, Payton chose to trade back into the seventh round to select him. Despite Payton's story, Carolina disputes the suggestion that they agreed to a deal with the quarterback.

To maintain a level playing field, the NFL prevents teams from speaking with players about undrafted free agent contracts. The league even sent out a memo telling teams not to speak to presumed-undrafted free agents until after the draft is completed. Still, similar to most rules, there are teams that are undoubtedly pushing the boundaries to gain an advantage.

Seeing that this is a league issue, the NFL will have to look into whether or not Carolina spoke to Stevens during the seventh round. If the NFL finds any wrongdoing from either side, they could decide to punish the teams or players involved. While the NFL looks into the situation, the Panthers have denied any wrongdoing.