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Kirk Cousins may have snitched on himself and cost the Atlanta Falcons a draft pick.
As pointed out by Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio, only agents, not players are allowed to speak to teams and their staff during the legal negotiating period.
On Wednesday, during his introductory press conference, Cousins admitted to talking to several of the Falcons’ staff members earlier this week, which is technically tampering and is against league rules.
“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.”
Florio notes that the Chiefs were forced to give up a third-round pick several years ago in a similar situation.
Cousins on his own or at the behest or with the knowledge of the team, there’s reason to believe the team directly communicated with Cousins during the 52-hour negotiating window. That’s clearly prohibited, as the Chiefs learned eight years ago when they lost a third-round pick for speaking directly to receiver Jeremy Maclin during the legal tampering period.
The NFL has yet to comment on Cousins’ situation, but they might look into it now that Pro Football Talk has reported on it.