Two of the biggest signings early in the 2024 NFL free agency period saw Kirk Cousins head to the Atlanta Falcons and Saquon Barkley leave the New York Giants for the division rival Philadelphia Eagles.
Each of those signings is still being investigated by the NFL for potential tampering violations, as reported by CBS Sports lead NFL insider Jonathan Jones back in March. As Yahoo! Sports reported at the time, it is "standard for the league to look into such matters."
Cousins finally commented on the tampering allegations at OTAs. "The league's still kind of going through that. So, I'll let them do it," he said. "But there's not a whole lot there."
But based on Cousins' own statements after he signed, that doesn't appear to be the case. The former Washington and Vikings quarterback signed a four-year, $160 million contract with the Falcons, and during his introductory press conference, let slip that he either met or spoke with the team's athletic trainer and head of public relations before league rules allowed him 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, 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."
Teams are not allowed to have direct contact with players during the "legal tampering" period, so either of those conversations would seemingly constitute a violation of the tampering rules.
Barkley, meanwhile, signed a three-year, $37.5 million pact to leave New York for Philly, and Barkley's former college coach at Penn State, James Franklin, seemed to imply that Barkley and Eagles general manager Howie Roseman talked during the tampering period as well.
"For him now to come back and be able to play within the state, in Philadelphia, he said that was one of the first things that Howie said to him on the phone as part of his sales pitch to him was not only the Philadelphia Eagles and that but obviously the connection with Penn State and the fan base as well," Franklin said, according to ESPN. The Eagles denied that Roseman had impermissible contact with Barkley.
If found in violation of tampering rules, it is likely that the Falcons and/or Eagles would be docked some form of draft-pick capital and/or fined.
