Ray Farmer, General Manager of the Cleveland Browns, was recently suspended and fined by the National Football League (NFL) due to sending text messages.

A news conference last month saw Farmer admit that he was sending text messages to coaches during some games. He apologized for his actions during the conference.

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The messages presumably weighed in on the kind of plays to call and which players to use.

This prompted an investigation from the NFL as the rules state that electronic communication about competitive or strategic information during games is prohibited.

The messages also seem to be linked to offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan's resigning from the team in January. He currently had only two years left on his contract.

The NFL suspended Farmer for the first four regular-season games of 2015, all without pay. Apart from that, the NFL also fined the Browns organization $250,000. No draft picks were affected though.

This means that Farmer will still be able to run and operate the draft for his team. He can still sign free agents, cut players through the training camp, and fix up the team's roster for the upcoming season.

The brunt of the penalties come as soon as the seasons begin, which is an opportune moment as the responsibilities of a general manager cut back then.

The Browns still have all 10 of its upcoming draft pick selections.

In order, they have number 12 and 19 overall for the first round, number 43 during the second round, number 77 in the third, numbers 111 and 115 in the fifth, numbers 188 and 201 in the sixth, and the last is the 229^th in the seventh.

Despite the mishap, Browns Owner Jimmy Haslam told reporters that he was going to stick with Farmer. Haslam said he didn't think that the text messages were sent to gain any unfair advantage.

TagsRay Farmer, General Manager, cleveland browns, NFL, Fined, Suspended