A recent report from Adam Schefter indicates that two NFL teams will lose valuable draft picks due to their behavior during free agency.
Two of the most notable free agency moves were quarterback Kirk Cousins leaving the Minnesota Vikings to sign with the Atlanta Falcons on a four-year, $180 million deal and running back Saquon Barkley departing from the New York Giants to join the Philadelphia Eagles on a three-year, $37.8 million contract. Now, those moves will lead to dire consequences.
Both signings may come at the expense of NFL draft picks after allegations of tampering surfaced.
ESPN‘s Adam Schefter reported the Falcons are expected to face more “severe” punishment if they’re found to have tampered with Kirk Cousins before they inked him to a deal. The Eagles have been accused of violating league tampering rules before signing running back Saquon Barkley.
Cousins may have accidentally screwed the Falcons when he implicated himself at his introductory press conference, as players aren’t allowed to have first-person contact with teams during the legal tampering period before the start of the new league year.
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“There’s great people here,” Cousins said. “And it’s not just the football team. I mean, I’m looking at the support staff. Meeting — calling, yesterday, calling our head athletic trainer, talking to our head of P.R. I’m thinking, we got good people here. And that’s exciting to be a part of.”
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According to the ESPN report, discipline is coming soon, with the punishment likely to be more harsh for the Falcons, given what Cousins stated out of his own mouth.
NFL Has Previously Come Down Hard On Teams For Tampering With Players
NFL teams like the Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs have been on the receiving end of tampering punishments that have been levied in the last ten years, and now the NFL looks to come down hard on two more teams.
The Dolphins lost their 2023 first-round draft choice and a 2024 third-rounder for tampering with Tom Brady and Sean Payton three different times.
Due to their three separate instances of tampering with Tom Brady and Sean Payton between 2019 and 2022, the Dolphins forfeited their first-round NFL draft choice in 2023 and their third-round pick in 2024. Owner Stephen Ross was fined $1.5 million, and limited partner and vice chair of the team Bruce Beal was fined $500,000.
Due to Jeremy Maclin’s wide receiver manipulation in 2015, Kansas City lost their third-round pick in 2016 and their sixth-round selection in 2017. A $250,000 sanction was imposed on the Chiefs, and head coach Andy Reid was fined $75,000.
