After three long months of investigation, the NFL has finally resolved the free agent tampering cases involving the Philadelphia Eagles and Atlanta Falcons.
The league announced Monday that its investigation had found the Eagles had no contact bringing back then-free agent Saquon Barkley during the 52-hour legal tampering period prior to the start of free agency, during which teams can only talk to agents and not players directly. After reviewing text messages, emails and other documents related to the signing, and interviewing Barkley, GM Howie Roseman, head coach Nick Sirianni and Penn State head coach James Franklin, the NFL found no evidence that the team had violated anti-tampering policy. . However, the league reserves the right to reopen the investigation if new evidence is discovered.
However, the Falcons were not exonerated. The league found that they had inappropriate contact with Kirk Cousins, Darnell Mooney and Charlie Woerner during the 52-hour period of legal tampering. Atlanta will forfeit its 2025 fifth-round pick and pay a $250,000 team fine, while general manager Terry Fontenot will pay a $50,000 fine.
Eagles disappeared after a misunderstanding at Barkley
These incidents of possible illegal contact came to light in the days after each player signed their contract. The NFL began their investigation into the Eagles after James Franklin, Barkley’s former coach at Penn State, commented on a conversation he had with Barkley about the signing. According to Franklin, Barkley told him that Penn State was part of GM Howie Roseman’s pitch, implying that Barkley heard the pitch firsthand. Here is Franklin’s exact quote:
“For him to come back and play in the state of Philadelphia, [Barkley] said that was one of the first things Howie said [Roseman] said to him on the phone as part of his sales pitch to him, ‘ Franklin said. “Not just the Philadelphia Eagles, but obviously the connection to Penn State and the fan bases.”
Franklin later said the comment had been misinterpreted, and Barkley tried to clarify what his former coach had said.
“Coach Franklin, I think, misinterpreted a little bit,” Barkley explained. “The truth was the sales pitch to Penn State, how many Penn State fans are Philadelphia Eagles fans. But that was through my agent and my agent told me that. It happens. I’ll let Philly handle that.”
It turns out that Barkley, Franklin and the Eagles were telling the truth.
Falcons disciplined after Cousins says too much during presser
As for the Falcons, their tampering investigation was initiated by Cousins himself. He essentially admitted during his introductory media conference that he had been in personal contact with Falcons staffers before free agency officially began, including director of player personnel Ryan Pace and the team’s head athletic trainer.
“There are great people here,” Cousins said. “And it’s not just the football team. I mean, I look at the support staff. Meeting – called our head athletic trainer yesterday, talked to our head of PR, I think we have good people here. And that’s exciting to be part of.”
Cousins later tried to dispel any implications of tampering, despite the fact that he is the one who initiated the NFL’s investigation.
“The league is still working on that,” Cousins said. “So I let them do it. But there isn’t much.”
The NFL believed there was, in fact, “a whole lot” — not just with Cousins, but with two other free agents, Darnell Mooney and Charlie Woerner. While no details have been released about the Falcons’ contact with Mooney and Woerner, their addition to the Falcons’ illegal contact list makes one aspect of their discipline stand out: If the team had illegal contact with three free agents, why are they losing then just pay one late pick and a relatively small fine?
NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero cleared that up.
“The violations appeared to have occurred *during* the two-day negotiation period, not before it opened, for example by talking to players about flights after they had (legally) agreed to the terms,” Pelissero wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter ). ). “Hence less discipline than in some other cases.”
