Will the NFL punish the Falcons for Tampering?

It's us so I'll put the chances of the football gods smiling down on us for once around 1% but that would be sweet if so. Do it Goodell and I promise I'll stop b!tching about you moving the awesome Saturday/Sunday marathon draft into a 4 day affair.

Which reminds me, I need to fit my annual rewatch of Draft Day in this week. Movie is like a fine wine!

I think that'd be totally fair. The "tampering" didn't really change anything, the Vikings didn't want to pay for that much time and Kirk didn't want to just settle for 1, maybe 2 years. The impasse was gonna happen anyway.

So...the Vikings getting a 3-spot promotion in draft position would be a nice bonus. Maybe the tampering didn't change much, but this way...the NFL can look like it's doing its diligence.

Didn't Miami lose a 1st and 3rd round pick for trying to set up a meeting with Brady one year? That would seem like a light punishment for Atlanta by comparison. They should just give us the pick!

I don’t know why Florio keeps pushing this agenda. It’s stupid and delusional at best.

There is tremendous amount of precedence that every team tampers, every offseason. No team wants this to be something that the league starts to crack down on, and the league intentionally ignores this in almost every instance unless it’s so egregious that they are forced to act or they are wanting to punish a team for something else, but can’t and use this instead.

There is zero chance that we would receive a pick, when we told Cousins to go test the FA market.

I think there’s a reasonable chance they give Atlanta a slap on the wrist, just for Cousins being stupid enough to admit it out loud. Like maybe they lose a 2025 5th round pick or something.

Every team does it, but Cousins was dumb enough to validate it

As pattersaur said, it's us. The NFL won't do a thing. Except maybe privately congratulate the Falcons.

There are a couple of routes this can go. First, the NFL has rules and they presumably want teams to follow their rules. That gives the NFL an incentive to punish the teams that violate their rules. That is one route.

The other is that sometimes a specific team is injured by the violation. This year, a strong case can be made that the Vikings were injured by the Falcons' tampering with Cousins. (Years ago SF, and I believe Denver, violated the salary cap rules. I believe the NFL punished both teams, but no specific team was injured by the violation so no team was awarded compensation.) In order to be awarded compensation, the injured team may have to complain to the NFL. If it does not, the violator may still be punished, like Miami was, but no team may receive compensation. So that begs the question: have the Vikings complained to the NFL about the Falcons' tampering? If not, the Falcons can lose a pick but the Vikings may not be the beneficiaries.

dadevike wrote:
There are a couple of routes this can go. First, the NFL has rules and they presumably want teams to follow their rules. That gives the NFL an incentive to punish the teams that violate their rules. That is one route.

The other is that sometimes a specific team is injured by the violation. This year, a strong case can be made that the Vikings were injured by the Falcons' tampering with Cousins. (Years ago SF, and I believe Denver, violated the salary cap rules. I believe the NFL punished both teams, but no specific team was injured by the violation so no team was awarded compensation.) In order to be awarded compensation, the injured team may have to complain to the NFL. If it does not, the violator may still be punished, like Miami was, but no team may receive compensation. So that begs the question: have the Vikings complained to the NFL about the Falcons' tampering? If not, the Falcons can lose a pick but the Vikings may not be the beneficiaries.

Whether we get compensation or not that Atlanta tampered with Cousins will not affect the situation that Minnesota is in right now regarding our quarterback of the future in this up-coming draft.

[font=ubuntu, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'avenir next', Avenir, 'nimbus sans l', Roboto, Noto, 'segoe ui', Arial, Helvetica, 'helvetica neue', sans-serif]WWWWWWill the NFL punish the Falcons for tampering…  :huh:

& further tarnish the shield? :angel:  Maybe, but as for benefiting the Vikings, I’ll believe it when I see it.  :@

Kentis wrote:
[font=ubuntu, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'avenir next', Avenir, 'nimbus sans l', Roboto, Noto, 'segoe ui', Arial, Helvetica, 'helvetica neue', sans-serif]WWWWWWill the NFL punish the Falcons for tampering…  :huh:

& further tarnish the shield? :angel:  Maybe, but as for benefiting the Vikings, I’ll believe it when I see it.  :@

I agree...They may slap em on the wrist, but it most likely won't benefit the Vikings.

I think the Falcons get hammered if it shows tampering prior to the window.

The idea that Cousins was leaving for sure is nothing more than a guess. It doesn’t actually matter in regards to the rules, but all of you claiming that are just guessing. We don’t know what the Vikings offered either. Cousins doesn’t know what free agency may bring, but if they tampered he knew exactly what would be offered. It doesn’t actually matter what he or the Vikings were “going to do”, but all I’m reading from many is pure speculation.

I think it’s super naive to expect a slap on the wrist here if they indeed had contact with him before the window opened.

I don’t think many fans understand just what was lost from a competitive standpoint. The team lost their franchise QB, a perennial top 10 player at the position. That isn’t all they lost though. They now will burn premium draft capital trying to replace him. Those draft picks(s) could have been elite prospects at other positions of need. It negatively impacts their ability to trade for more picks down the road. The damage is extensive.

Had the Vikings been able to keep Cousins, after Hunter left they could have made all of the signings on the defense they’ve made. They then could have picked an elite defensive or offensive prospect at 11 and 23. The team could have been exactly what it is right now with Cousins as QB, AND been adding 2 first round picks in a couple of weeks!

Havoc wrote:
I think the Falcons get hammered if it shows tampering prior to the window.

The idea that Cousins was leaving for sure is nothing more than a guess. It doesn’t actually matter in regards to the rules, but all of you claiming that are just guessing. We don’t know what the Vikings offered either. Cousins doesn’t know what free agency may bring, but if they tampered he knew exactly what would be offered. It doesn’t actually matter what he or the Vikings were “going to do”, but all I’m reading from many is pure speculation.

I think it’s super naive to expect a slap on the wrist here if they indeed had contact with him before the window opened.

I don’t think many fans understand just what was lost from a competitive standpoint. The team lost their franchise QB, a perennial top 10 player at the position. That isn’t all they lost though. They now will burn premium draft capital trying to replace him. Those draft picks(s) could have been elite prospects at other positions of need. It negatively impacts their ability to trade for more picks down the road. The damage is extensive.

Had the Vikings been able to keep Cousins, after Hunter left they could have made all of the signings on the defense they’ve made. They then could have picked an elite defensive or offensive prospect at 11 and 23. The team could have been exactly what it is right now with Cousins as QB, AND been adding 2 first round picks in a couple of weeks!

I think your perspective makes zero sense.  There were no realities where Cousins wasn't going to hear all offers from all teams.  If we didn't have him resigned by the end of the season, there was never going to be an option for him to resign with us without testing the market.  You resign the players you can't lose a year early so they don't have the option to test the market.

Havoc wrote:
I think the Falcons get hammered if it shows tampering prior to the window.

IMO the most likely outcome is nothing happens.
The second most likely outcome is the Vikings get a 5th or 6th round comp pick next year, the equivalent of a bag of old gym socks.

comet52 wrote:

IMO the most likely outcome is nothing happens.
The second most likely outcome is the Vikings get a 5th or 6th round comp pick next year, the equivalent of a bag of old gym socks.

My son's goldendoodle would rather have the socks.

medaille wrote:

I think your perspective makes zero sense.  There were no realities where Cousins wasn't going to hear all offers from all teams.  If we didn't have him resigned by the end of the season, there was never going to be an option for him to resign with us without testing the market.  You resign the players you can't lose a year early so they don't have the option to test the market.

You don’t know that. It’s what you are assuming and it isn’t based on the reports the last few weeks. Its not based on what the team was saying or what Kirk was saying. It’s based solely on your guess. A month out they were expected to get him signed - then suddenly they weren’t. This is where it matters as to the timing of the tampering. If it goes back weeks, the Falcons are getting hammered.