NFL EVP Troy Vincent is the one who ruled on the Kansas City Chiefs tampering punishment initially and now that we know the Chiefs have appealed it will be NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell hearing the appeal.
Hmm, can anyone guess how this appeal goes down? I'd put a lot of money on Goodell confirming Goodell's office's decision on the tampering charges. Because that's the way it always goes, unless the NFL goes to court where they often lose.
As to the timing of the Chiefs appeal, Goodell said he would do it before the draft if the Chiefs prefer. Which of course the Chiefs do because why would they wait until after the draft when the punishment is the loss of a pick in this draft?
Goodell said that the tampering policy is an important policy to the league. So important that so many teams cheated that rule for so many years that the NFL literally changed their own rules to accommodate a legal tampering window. That should show you how seriously they took the repeated and blatant violations of the rule they say they take so seriously.
Forget the tampering rules for a minute. The Chiefs aren't really denying their involvement in breaking the rule. Their lack of a denial pretty much confirms they're guilty. What the Chiefs are appealing is the largest punishment in NFL history - by a long shot - for tampering. There's still no legitimate reason given for that, especially with the league's acknowledgment that the Chiefs cooperated with the investigation with the insinuation being the punishment would've been even worse if they hadn't.
We're seeing something similar go down with Deflategate. The NFL won't give the Patriots back their first round pick even though the league pretty clearly screwed up the investigation. The league has motivation to stick to their original ruling so we'll see that play out with the Chiefs too.
Bottom line, I wouldn't expect to have these charges reduced or rescinded.