So it shouldn’t surprise anyone, when Dan Graziano (ESPN) dropped a report saying that the NFL is investigating the Atlanta Falcons on charges that they breached the NFL tampering policy during their free agency pursuit of Cousins.

Per a league source, the NFL is looking into potential tampering by the Eagles and the Falcons related to the free-agent signings of Saquon Barkley and Kirk Cousins.

— Dan Graziano (@DanGrazianoESPN) March 14, 2024

It happened during a very eventful introductory press conference, which was held shortly after he signed a $100 million (in guarantees) deal with his new team. According to the rules, it really wasn’t questionable.

What did Kirk Cousins say that launched this investigation?

Cousins wasn’t allowed to communicate directly with the Falcons prior to Wednesday afternoon at 3 p.m. CDT. But he told reporters yesterday that he had talked directly to the Atlanta training staff on Tuesday. [Read More: Cousins snitches on Falcons for Tampering]

“There’s great people here, 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 PR. I’m thinking, we’ve got good people here. And that’s exciting to be a part of.”

Kirk Cousins during Falcons introductory press conference

If found guilty — which I don’t know how they wouldn’t be now that the NFL is looking into this — Atlanta could pay a hefty toll for these charges. In 2015, there was a similar situation in Kansas City, when Andy Reid accidentally admitted to tampering with Jeremy Maclin. It cost the Chiefs a 3rd round pick in 2016 and a 7th rounder in 2017 (along with a $250K fine).

Related: Harrison Smith Agrees to Contract Restructure to Stay with Vikings

Depending on how egregious the NFL’s findings are, I’d imagine the Falcons would receive a harsher penalty than what the Chiefs were back then. Jeremy Maclin was a mid-tier wide receiver. Cousins was the #1-rated and highest paid free agent on the entire market. He set 2024 offseason free agency in motion. Every team in the NFL was waiting for that deal to be done.

But no matter how significant the penalty, the Vikings will not benefit directly from it. Any draft picks the Falcons were to lose would not go to Minnesota. So no, the league will not for them to swap their #8 pick for the Vikings #11 pick, as punishment for tampering with Kirk Cousins, like I have seen suggested. Still, it’s nice to see some justice served.

Minnesota Gophers fairing ok in transfer portal early

But their best players Darius Taylor, Daniel Jackson and Justin Walley have all announced their intentions to return and, as of now, it looks like Minnesota will gain a lot more from the transfer portal this offseason, than they lose.

Thank you Gopher fans for supporting me during my time in Minnesota.Thank you to my TEAM who has made this a world class experience. After talking with my family and taking time to think I have decided to come back for another year with Dinkytown Athletes. Who's going to join me? pic.twitter.com/VZTOqXrsPX

— Darius Taylor💫 (@Dariustay1or) December 2, 2023

Related: Minnesota Gophers Football Transfer Portal Tracker 2023

That doesn’t mean other schools haven’t been trying their very best to pry talent out of Dinkytown. The three players I mentioned above didn’t post their offseason intentions on social media to boost their own egos. They did it to get tampering coaches and rival staff members to stop messaging them about possibly swapping schools.

PJ Fleck, Mark Coyle turning in rival schools for tampering

What can PJ Fleck and the University of Minnesota football program do to try and combat other schools from illegally trying to poach players from their roster, long before they ever express interest or announce plans to enter the transfer portal?

According to Ryan Burns of GopherIllustrated.com (247 Sports), the Gophers are reporting the tamperers to the NCAA.

Ryan Burns: “If you don’t want [Darius Taylor to have to tweet out his intentions to stay], then tell people to stop tampering with him.”

Chip Scoggins: “I’m not blaming the kid, I’m blaming the system.”

Burns: “That’s where I come back to with the system. I can tell you definitively, Minnesota has turned in teams in the last week, even in the Big Ten, for tampering with their players.”

Justin Gaard: “Jeez…”

Burns: “This whole system is so broken.”

Pair and a Spare Podcast

Will their official complaints ever lead to punishment? Don’t hold your breath. But I applaud Fleck & Co for officially logging the alleged malfeasances anyway.

I’ve said it before and I will write about it again pretty soon, because I get to my boiling point on this subject every once in awhile and need to sound off.

Fix for Tampering, other NIL issues is obvious

The fix to college sports’ NIL problem is for Universities to start paying their players with a slice of TV revenue. That way, we have binding contracts, transparency, salary caps and we can get rid of shady outside entities passing money under the table.

Related: How Much NIL Can Gophers Pay vs What Transfer QBs Actually Cost?

How long will it take for us to get there? We’ll find out but it’s eventually where this whole train ends up. In the meantime, make sure you drink Duck Duck Beer, eat Parlor burgers and donate your hard-earned money to Dinkytown Athletes whenever possible so we can all enjoy Gopher football in the NIL age.