The Falcons tampering with quarterback Kirk Cousins, as evidenced by the things Cousins said during his introductory press conference. The NFL is investigating. If the NFL is serious about uncovering the truth, an investigation that makes blatant tampering even clearer shouldn’t require many steps.
The question is whether and to what extent the Falcons will be punished. Some think Rich McKay’s presence on the Competition Committee will give the Falcons a chance. Obviously, this shouldn’t be the case. (However, they managed less than a punishment for pumping out fake crowd noise at the Georgia Dome than the 49ers received for a simple accounting error.)
Given the way the NFL handled last year’s handling by the Cardinals of former Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon, it’s impossible to rule out an announcement that will be released just before the first round of the draft.
The Falcons have the eighth pick in the first round. The Vikings have eleventh. What if the punishment is as simple as the Falcons and Vikings flipping the two picks?
The NFL set the precedent last year with the sudden and unexpected news of the Cardinals-Eagles deal. It would make sense for this to happen again, between the Falcons and Vikings.
And it would be a fair outcome, if (as Cousins admitted) he spoke to the team’s head athletic trainer the day before the team was allowed to speak to him, he possibly spoke to the director of player personnel, Ryan Pace, before the team could talk to him. speak with him, he participated in the draft of former Bears receiver Darnell Mooney during the trade window, and everything else the NFL may have discovered by reviewing text messages and other evidence, including whether the team knew about the efforts by tight end Kyle Pitts to recruit cousins — efforts that Pitts tried to deny as soon as they came to light.
The end result could, and perhaps should, be that the Vikings have the eighth and 23rd picks. Which makes his potential effort to reach the top five a little easier. Or maybe they just sit around at eight and wait for a quarterback they like to fall on them.
Regardless, since the NFL dropped that important Cardinals-Eagles tampering nugget last year as soon as the draft began, it makes sense to look at it again this year, especially since the Falcons actually interfered with Cousins.
