Falcons face major penalty for violating NFL’s anti-tampering policy with Kirk Cousins' $180,000,000 deal

The NFL has come to a conclusion in the Atlanta Falcons tampering case featuring Kirk Cousins—and it's not a good one for the team. They lost a draft pick in 2025 and were fined $250,000 while GM Terry Fontenot was fined $50,000 separately.

NFL reporter Tom Pelissero broke the news on X:

"The NFL is docking the #Falcons a 2025 fifth-round pick for violating the league’s anti-tampering policy with Kirk Cousins, Darnell Mooney, and Charlie Woerner. The team is also being fined $250,000 and GM Terry Fontenot is being fined $50,000."

The violations, per Pelissero, were determined to be within the logistical and administrative field. This included "making travel arrangements after players agreed to terms" and not so much as contact before the negotiation window was legally open.

Kirk Cousins' $180 million deal was not the only tampering violation that got levied on the Falcons, as they were also penalized for the signings of Darnell Mooney and Charlie Woerner.

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How the Falcons' Kirk Cousins tampering stacks up with Dolphins violation

While the league specified that what the Falcons did was not the same as negotiating with a player when they weren't allowed to, tampering is still prohibited in any form.

The Falcons were punished for tampering with Kirk Cousins

For reference, the Miami Dolphins tampered with Tom Brady in 2019 while he was still with the New England Patriots. He didn't end up signing with the Dolphins, but owner Stephen Ross was suspended and the team had to forfeit a first-round draft pick in 2023 along with a third-rounder in 2024. Ross was also fined $1.5 million.

In comparison, a fifth-round draft pick is far less valuable, and the lack of suspensions showed that the Falcons got off a lot easier than the Dolphins did.