The Atlanta Falcons just introduced quarterback Kirk Cousins as a new member of their team on Wednesday, and they are already being investigated for tampering, per Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk.

Based on Cousins’ comments at his first Falcons press conference, you can understand why.

Cousins said that Atlanta tight end Kyle Pitts began recruiting him “back a few weeks,” which falls in line with the report that Cousins and Pitts were discussing who would wear the No. 8.

Cousins has worn No. 8 his entire NFL career, and Pitts has held that jersey number with the Falcons since the team drafted him in 2021.

The thing is, that report surfaced before the legal tampering window for free agency opened this past Monday, meaning that if Pitts held those types of conversations with Cousins and Atlanta’s front office had knowledge of them, the Falcons could face serious penalties.

Pitts dismissed the report as nonsense, but Cousins’ remarks at his introductory press conference on Wednesday revived the possibility that Atlanta may have tampered with the four-time Pro Bowler while he was still technically under contract with the Minnesota Vikings.

Of course, this will be hard for the NFL to prove.

The league will need physical evidence that the Falcons actually tampered, which would include things like text messages, e-mails, etc. So unless Atlanta actually communicated with Pitts about Cousins, this will be all for naught.

Remember: Pitts was perfectly within his right to recruit Cousins so long as the Falcons didn’t know about. That is within the boundaries of league rules.

And again, even if Atlanta’s organization did know of Pitts’ recruiting efforts, the Falcons almost certainly did not leave any sort of paper trail.

If the NFL can prove Atlanta did tamper with Kirk Cousins, the Falcons will pay dearly.

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