Falcons could be punished severely for their role in tampering with Kirk Cousins

ESPN's Adam Schefter has some very important information regarding the tampering cases involving Kirk Cousins and Saquon Barkley. The NFL has reportedly talked to both the Atlanta Falcons and the Philadelphia Eagles are their roles in tampering with Cousins and Barkley, respectively. While Philadelphia will be punished as well, the Falcons are the ones who the NFL may be cracking down on.

Schefter's intel suggests that the NFL will be handing out its punishments for the Eagles and Falcons sometime this week. For those who were too busy out there enjoying their lives, Barkley opted to leave the New York Giants for the Eagles in division, while Cousins decided to come home to his adopted home of Atlanta, as opposed to playing another down for the Minnesota Vikings ever again.

I would expect that Atlanta will have to forfeit a draft pick. It might be as much as a first-round pick, but most definitely at least a day-two pick. This might be a reason why Atlanta rushed to draft Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. No. 8 overall back in April. Atlanta wanted a succession plan in place to replace an aging Cousins, knowing they were probably going to be docked a pick.

Despite being arguably the favorite to come out of the NFC South in 2024, Atlanta is so dysfunctional.

Atlanta Falcons may be punished severely for Kirk Cousins tampering

The thing that is frustrating to me, besides still rooting for this team for some reason, is Cousins was probably going to sign with Atlanta anyway. Minnesota wanted to draft his replacement. Cousins was not all that cool with it, so he and his family decided to relocate to his wife's hometown just outside of Atlanta. Fate would have it, Atlanta did exactly what Cousins didn't want the Vikings to do in the draft.

The precedent out there is Atlanta might end up losing its first-round pick next season. The good news for Atlanta is the Falcons should be a playoff team next year, or much better than the 7-10 nonsense they were defined under Raheem Morris' predecessor Arthur Smith. Even if Cousins is washed, they still have Penix on their roster. It is also Morris' first year back with the franchise, too.

So if the Falcons were to give up something closer to the No. 20 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, who cares? It has been a painfully long time since Atlanta made the playoffs. They haven't been since 2017 when Fourth and Sark cost this team a shot at the NFC Championship Game. For those keeping track at home, six straight losing seasons is the longest stretch of futility for them since the 1980s.

Atlanta missed out on the postseason every year from 1983 to 1990, going nine years in between playoff berths. In between Steve Bartkowski and Deion Sanders was a lot of meh. Even though Atlanta does face some pressure this season, it does not feel insurmountable. The goal this year is to be better than last year. At times, the 2023 Falcons were still somehow in the mix for the postseason.

The only way this truly blows up in the face of the Falcons is if Cousins is washed, Penix cannot play and the team goes 7-10 for the fourth straight year, en route to what would have been the No. 8 pick.