10:33am: According to Jeff Schultz of the Atlanta Journal Consitution (via Twitter), the Falcons expect to lose a draft pick for 2016, rather than 2015.
9:55am: An announcement regarding the discipline for rules violations by the Falcons and the Browns is expected to come by Tuesday, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (via Twitter). The NFL has been looking into violations by both teams for several weeks.
The Falcons, who admitted to piping artificial crowd noise in at their home games, are expected to lose a draft pick, sources tell Schefter (Twitter link). While Schefter doesn’t specify which pick Atlanta will lose, I doubt it would be an early-round selection. The NFL will also likely suspend team president Rich McKay from the league’s competition committee, per Schefter.
As for the Browns, general manager Ray Farmer, who reportedly sent text messages to coaches on the team’s sideline during games, figures to be suspended for his role in the “Textgate” scandal. However, the Browns aren’t expected to lose a draft pick, according to Schefter (via Twitter).
Schefter adds that both teams may also receive “hefty fines” for running afoul of NFL rules.
The investigations into the Falcons and Browns are just two of a handful of notable ongoing cases for the league — Peter King of TheMMQB.com noted today that the league still has “a while to go” on tampering allegations made by the Jets and Patriots regarding Darrelle Revis. It doesn’t appear as if the Deflategate investigation, led by Ted Wells, is close to wrapping up either. The NFL is also reportedly looking into potential violations by more than half the teams in the league during this month’s “legal tampering” period prior to free agency.