The Kirk Cousins Tampering Ordeal — Clarified
The Atlanta Falcons claim it was never nefarious.
The Kirk Cousins Tampering Ordeal — Clarified
That’s the word from Falcons owner Arthur Blank this week, clarifying his team’s role in the tampering process that landed former Minnesota Vikings quarterback in Atlanta four months ago.
In June, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero tweeted, “The NFL is docking the Falcons a 2025 fifth-round pick for violating the league’s anti-tampering policy with Kirk Cousins, Darnell Mooney and Charlie Woerner. The team is also being fined $250,000 and GM Terry Fontenot is being fined $50,000.”
He added, “The violations are considered logistical/administrative, such as making travel arrangements after players agreed to terms, and did not involve contact prior to the negotiating window, per sources.”
And according to Blank, the details exactly align with the Pelissero tweet while explaining why the NFL’s punishment was lenient. Put plainly — the tampering minutia was a lack of oversight by the Falcons, not malice-driven.
“So, the tampering situation, we were advised by the NFL that we didn’t dot every ‘I’ and cross every ‘T,’ despite our attempt to do that,” Blank told Pro Football Talk this week. “There were a couple of procedural mistakes, I think, that were made by the organization.”
The tampering allegations served as a sidedish storyline for the Vikings earlier this offseason as some fans daydreamed about Minnesota receiving draft picks as part of Atlanta’s comeuppance. However, very little precedent existed for the “other team” to benefit from tampering, and in the end, the Vikings received zilch for the Falcons’ blunders.
“We fully cooperated with the NFL, as we always do in any sort of investigation. They found there were certain things were deficient in the way we handled things with Kirk. We’ve addressed those things internally,” Blank added. “Find something that’s a problem, you fix it and make sure it doesn’t happen again, and that’s our attitude about it. The NFL is certainly doing their job and doing it well.”
The punishment, all things considered, was incredibly lean. A late-round draft pick — those rarely pan out anyway — and 250,000 bucks represented actually a giant nothingburger in NFL-speak.
Before the 2024 NFL Draft, PFT’s Mike Florio led the charge in insinuating the Vikings could receive draft goodies because of Atlanta’s tampering: “Maybe the Vikings are quietly holding out hope that the end result of the investigation regarding Atlanta’s blatant tampering with Cousins (and it was blatant, frankly) will result in a flip-flop of picks No. 8 and No. 11. (There’s no specific reason to think that will happen, but it’s not impossible that the league would select this sanction — and announce it literally five minutes before the draft starts.)”
The theory was false.
Cousins’ Falcons kick off the regular season in 39 days with a home contest versus the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. The show features guests, analysis, and opinion on all things related to the purple team, with 4-7 episodes per week. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band). He follows the NBA as closely as the NFL.
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
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