According to Jonathan Jones, the Falcons have been docked a 2025 fifth-round pick and fined $250,000 for tampering with QB Kirk Cousins in free agency.
Jones adds Falcons GM Terry Fontenot has also been fined $50,000 personally. Tom Pelissero reports the Falcons were also found to have tampered with WR Darnell Mooney and TE Charlie Woerner.
Pelissero elaborates that the violations were considered administrative and the Falcons did not contact these players prior to the negotiating window. Instead, they made administrative errors, like making travel arrangements before the window to sign opened.
Cousins appeared to admit during his introductory press conference that he had contact with the Falcons’ head athletic trainer before he was allowed to do so.
“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, our head athletic trainer, talking to our head of P.R., I’m thinking we’ve got good people here. And that’s exciting to be a part of.”
Cousins, 35, is a former fourth-round pick of Washington back in 2012. He played out the final year of his rookie contract before being franchised in back-to-back seasons.
Cousins later departed in free agency for a three-year, $84 million contract with the Vikings. He was entering the final year of his contract in 2020 when he agreed to a two-year, $66 million contract extension. In 2021, he agreed to a new one-year, $35 million contract extension that was also fully guaranteed.
He was in the final year of that deal in 2023 and was testing the market as an unrestricted free agent when signing with the Falcons this offseason.
In 2023, Cousins appeared in eight games for the Vikings and completed 69.5 percent of his passes for 2,331 yards, 18 touchdowns and five interceptions.
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