PFT's Florio Still Wonders if Kirk Cousins Tampering Could Lead to Vikings-Falcons Pick Swap

This seems unlikely, but I suppose it can't be ruled out entirely?

Jan 7, 2024; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins (8) talks with / Lon Horwedel-USA TODAY Sports

About a month ago, ProFootballTalk's Mike Florio was the first to point out that former Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins may have admitted to tampering violations — specifically, impermissible contact with a team employee — during his introductory press conference with the Falcons. Not long after, other sources reported that the league would be looking into it.

With the draft approaching, Florio is still openly musing about the idea that the league could punish the Falcons for the violation, perhaps even by making them swap first-round picks with the Vikings.

"Given the manner in which the NFL handled last year’s tampering by the Cardinals with former Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon, it’s impossible to rule out an announcement that drops just before the first round of the draft," Florio wrote. "The Falcons have the eighth pick in round one. The Vikings have the eleventh. What if the punishment is as simple as the Falcons and Vikings flip-flopping the two picks? The NFL set the precedent last year, with the sudden and unexpected news of the Cardinals-Eagles settlement. It would make sense for it to happen again, between the Falcons and the Vikings."

The Vikings would certainly be thrilled if this were to happen. Moving up three spots to the No. 8 pick at no cost would make trading up into the top five for a quarterback significantly easier. They could also just wait to see if someone like J.J. McCarthy or Drake Maye fell to them, which is slightly more likely at 8 than 11.

With that said, I would advise Vikings fans against getting their hopes up. This seems like a highly unlikely outcome. Even if the NFL does end up punishing the Falcons for unintentionally saying the quiet part out loud — we've known for a long time that every team violates the tampering rules — it would be pretty surprising if the punishment was this severe.

Yes, the example Florio cites is a real one. Last year, minutes before the first round began, the Cardinals and Eagles settled tampering charges against Arizona in their hiring of Jonathan Gannon by having the teams swap third-round picks. The Eagles got the 66th pick, the Cardinals got the 94th pick, and Arizona also had to surrender their 2024 fifth-rounder. That was a significant punishment.

But there's been no buzz on something like that happening this year with the Vikings and Falcons from anyone other than Florio. He's been covering the NFL for a long time, but he's also a Vikings fan who might be trying to will this into existence.

We don't know what the league will find when looking into potential tampering by Atlanta. If there is a punishment, it seems more likely that it would be something like the Vikings getting a fifth-round pick from the Falcons.

But who knows?

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