KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs were penalized Wednesday for violating the NFL’s anti-tampering rules for having impermissible contact with wide receiver Jeremy Maclin during last year’s free agency.

The Chiefs were stripped of their third-round pick this April and sixth-round pick next year and fined $250,000. Chiefs coach Andy Reid was also fined $50,000 and general manager John Dorsey fined $25,000.

Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt said in a statement the club intends to appeal the penalties.

The Chiefs are accused of having direct communication with Maclin, who played for Reid in Philadelphia, during the league’s negotiating period. That communication is a violation of NFL tampering rules.

Maclin later signed a $55 million, five-year deal with Kansas City.

“While we respect Commissioner (Roger) Goodell and the process,” Hunt said, “we believe that the penalties proposed in this case are inconsistent with discipline enforced in similar matters — particularly given the league’s inconsistent communication of its policies on contact with potential free agents.”

The Chiefs are hardly the first team to be hit with tampering penalties.

In 2008, the NFL found the San Francisco 49ers guilty of tampering with Chicago linebacker Lance Briggs by contacting his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, during the season without the Bears’ permission. Like Maclin, Briggs was scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent that offseason.