NFL rumors: Kirk Cousins told on himself for tampering, but what might it cost the Falcons?

Even during the legal tampering period, you cannot tamper to the degree that you want to tamper if you are a tampering NFL team. Two such teams are under fire right now for doing this. That would be the Philadelphia Eagles for getting Saquon Barkley to turn heel on the hated New York Giants. The other would be the Atlanta Falcons for getting Kirk Cousins to leave the Minnesota Vikings behind.

For as much as I love jargonese, this all feels like small potatoes. These players are free agents, and can sign with any team of their choosing. Of course, there is a hard salary cap to work with, but players are going to want to go where they want to go as soon as they are allowed to go there. As my FanSided.com colleague Alicia de Artola Castillo outlined, there is a certain procedure to doing this.

This is how the NFL describes the rules and regulations of legal tampering, if you want to know.

"From 12:00 p.m. ET on Monday, March 11 until 3:59:59 p.m. ET on Wednesday, March 13, clubs are permitted to contact and enter into contract negotiations with the certified agents of players who will become unrestricted free agents upon expiration of their 2023 player contracts at 4:00 p.m. ET on March 13. The two-day negotiating period applies only to prospective unrestricted free agents. It does not apply to players who have received, or who may receive, a required tender applicable to the 2024 League Year (e.g., exclusive rights players, restricted free agents, franchise players or transition players)."

Basically, teams can talk to agents during the legal tampering period, but not players. Sure, Jan...

And as another one of my FanSided.com colleagues Kinnu Singh wrote before, Cousins' former Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell suspects that the Falcons were engaging in tampering.

To me, this sounds like sour grapes from O'Connell, knowing that he has to deal with the destructive nature of Kwesi Adofo-Mensah as a general manager. That man lives to blow it up like at a science fair.

And to be frank, no matter how I feel about the situation, the NFL is looking into Atlanta for tampering.

Let's discuss what might happen if the Falcons, or the Eagles for Barkley, were to be found guilty here.

What could the Atlanta Falcons lose tampering for with Kirk Cousins?

If you think the Falcons are going to lose the No. 8 overall pick for this, you are insane. In reality, the Falcons may lose a day-three, or even a day-two pick for these alleged tampering shenanigans. With the rumors bubbling about the Chicago Bears possibly tampering to pry D'Andre Swift away from the Eagles, you have to wonder if these rules are broken. It is starting to feel very NCAA to me, folks.

Like, what is the worst thing that can happen? Arthur Blank will pay a fine. The man is an octogenarian billionaire. He doesn't care! If Atlanta were to lose a pick in the upcoming draft, how about the day-two pick they are getting from the Jacksonville Jaguars as part of the Calvin Ridley deal? What are the chances the Tennessee Titans tampered to get him to switch sides of their bitter AFC South rivalry?

You do see the big issue here, right? Some teams aren't doing their part to recruit their best players. These tampering rules may be a way to maintain some level of competitive balance, but in a free market economy, you can't really control everything. Legal tampering has only been a relatively new phenomenon. NFL free agency is a huge event for the league, so why try to ruin some team's parades?

If Atlanta, Philadelphia or even Chicago lost a pick, it doesn't really matter. All three teams got better.