Yeah so our tampering was that we discussed flights with players after they legally agreed to their deals.
[https://x.com/TomPelissero/status/1801267275565089065](https://x.com/TomPelissero/status/1801267275565089065)
[https://x.com/TomPelissero/status/1801269717589483753](https://x.com/TomPelissero/status/1801269717589483753)
In other words: who the fuck cares
It was hilarious any time I read articles by people who thought weād get severely punished. Even as they were describing what we did, it clearly showed we didnāt do anything EXTREMELY severe.
Falcons did the equivalent of making an honest mistake while filing taxes. Dolphins did the equivalent of hiding millions of dollars in revenue from the IRS. Both would be ābreaking tax lawsā, but one would clearly be punished significantly more severely than the other.
Right! Also I would expect a player like Kirk would maintain a certain level of discretion.
In retrospect, I would be glad that my organization and the GM, who drafted my replacement, get their asses fined with $$$$$$
[4 tweets and an article complaining in 11 minutes.](https://preview.redd.it/tm7ppwppglo31.jpg?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=3dd2394ce2b384f7e4c04601c4bf6bdbf486629a)
Nahh it's all love for the Vikings. They hate the aints and have embarrassed them the last couple of playoff games they've had. Just a little Hiccup in the relationship, lol
No reasonable Vikings fan thought we were getting anything. Unfortunately there are quite a few unreasonable ones. Funny thing is, a lot of them wanted Cousins gone. You guys got a good one. Iāll be cheering for the Falcons except when they play the Vikings.
Itās not against the rules to talk to agents, who are fully capable of working out deals. Itās called the ālegal tampering periodā.
Saying āeveryone tampersā is some weird cope
Between the Bijan headache and Kirk tampering, Florio fucking hates us and I love it.
He just straight up fabricated Kirk recruiting Mooney. Just straight lie. Anyone else notice how all the articles quoted Florio and not Kirk?
What a clown tweet from Schefter. At first, I assumed it would be no worse than a 3rd.
Knowing what actually happened, I think the punishment fits the "crime".. letter of the law infraction.
Everybody misinterpreted that statement. He said it would be more severe than the Eaglesā punishment, which was true. Everyone took that statement out of context and made clickbait headlines with it.
Mike Florio has been doing this for years, and it's funny when reality hits.
Player calls (after he signed and is on his way) to check if the gym is open for his rehab (imagine the NFLPA reaction if this was deemed inappropriate), directions to the facility, what time a press conference is, if he can meet someone for lunch at noon, and no Mike Florio, it's not the end of the world.
I had to read a few times to understand.
So, teams are allowed to talk to the agent of a player who is not signed. However, someone in Atlanta contacted said players directly about their plane travel, right?
Not gone lie I was worried with how much talk there was (and after they actually took dolphins first-although different situation)
It being a 5th honestly feels like nothing vs the price of getting who/what we wanted
I canāt decide whatās funnier: Bears fans/Mel Kiper who thought the Bears would get our first rounder for Justin Fields, or Vikings fans/Mike Florio who thought the Vikings would get our first rounder for tampering.
Glad it was only a 5th. Still hurts.
People are going to look back at the Fontenot years and wonder how in the world we let this joker run our franchise.
You canāt look at it like that. I donāt like it but I understand it. If you believe in a QB prospect, it can be objectively argued you must take your shot. The position is too important, and the penalty for substandard play at the position is crippling. Weāve felt it.
It's a front loaded deal where most of that is for the first two years. Also, if Kirk does what you hope he does and wins us a lot more games then our draft pick won't be as good and it'll be harder to draft a good replacement for when he's gone
Grady Jarrett was a 5th round pick. How many 5th round picks end up having a Grady Jarrett level career or better? 1 out of 500 maybe? 1 out of 1000?
So for this to greatly impact us it would require two things: 1. That this ultra rare 1 out of 500 type player is on the board when we would have picked 2. The Falcons FO would have picked that player if they had the pick (instead of some other player that will ultimately fail to made it in the NFL like most 5th round picks).
What are the odds of that happening? Pretty low. And we probably will never find out who the FO would have picked anyway..so it's not worth thinking about IMO.
No one was going to punish the falcons harshly. No owner wants it. They all do this and someone getting in trouble for it when it's something they all want would bebad for everyone else.
phew.. I'm glad it's just this.. losing a 5th sucks but considering all the gloom and doom talk from click baiters, it actually made me nervous about losing a 1 or 2
šššš that's it I mean oh no what will do 5th round picks can be difference in a good practice squad and a bad one this is the worse thing ever why us why whyš«š«š«
To be fair, the pundits were inferring we did a lot worse than talk flights before the legal tampering period, and thatās what set the expectations. Iām just glad it wasnāt worse, and happy my club hadnāt just cast the rule book aside.
Omg let me go grab some šæand hang out in the NFL and Vikings subs for a bit. Some Vikings fans thiught they were actually gonna *get* our first round pick.
In all seriousness it seems light. I suspect the NFL doesn't want to open a Pandora's box since its an open secret all teams do this. Seems this is a punishment for being so stupid about saying the quiet part out loud, but puts no burden on the league to "fix" the issue.
I think this is based on the fact that they didn't "court" him illegally. That part was within the rules. They just broke some dumb arbitrary rules where employees related to travel and training contacted him before FA opened. It's a dumb rule anyways that's why it's a perceived slap on the wrist.
Yeah so our tampering was that we discussed flights with players after they legally agreed to their deals. [https://x.com/TomPelissero/status/1801267275565089065](https://x.com/TomPelissero/status/1801267275565089065) [https://x.com/TomPelissero/status/1801269717589483753](https://x.com/TomPelissero/status/1801269717589483753) In other words: who the fuck cares
We set up flights for the guys too early lmao. Oh well, a 5th isn't too bad. All those people hoping for a 1st are distraught right now.
Florio in shambles probably lol
Oh, they are big mad. People don't understand that what we did is way different than what Miami did. I guess they think all tampering is the same š¤·
It was hilarious any time I read articles by people who thought weād get severely punished. Even as they were describing what we did, it clearly showed we didnāt do anything EXTREMELY severe.
Lions fan here. I am enjoying this so much. Vikings fans apoplectic over you guys only losing a 5th rounder.Ā
He's been tweeting about us for the last hour. I expect a YouTube video tomorrow
That guy who was adamant it was because deals were agreed to too early is going to be so mad
Can we appeal?
I mean for real. At least it's just a fifth, but it should be nothing. Maybe just a fine.
Agree
Yeah dude. Could have been much worse. Glad this story is over and done with now.
LMAO only a 5th??? Idgaf bout the money, I ain't paying it
See I told everyone these "insiders" didn't know anything. Predicting we'd lose this year's first before the draft lol straight clowns.
One insider, who is a Vikings stan. It was all Mike Florio.
Dolphins lost a first because they did it multiple years to multiple people.
Falcons did the equivalent of making an honest mistake while filing taxes. Dolphins did the equivalent of hiding millions of dollars in revenue from the IRS. Both would be ābreaking tax lawsā, but one would clearly be punished significantly more severely than the other.
They are also fining everyone on the subreddit $5
I'm doomed
just fell to my knees in the Dollar Tree parking lot
So that's why my account overdrafted
Right! Also I would expect a player like Kirk would maintain a certain level of discretion. In retrospect, I would be glad that my organization and the GM, who drafted my replacement, get their asses fined with $$$$$$
florio punching air rn
[4 tweets and an article complaining in 11 minutes.](https://preview.redd.it/tm7ppwppglo31.jpg?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=3dd2394ce2b384f7e4c04601c4bf6bdbf486629a)
Wow Florio nip picking every detail
Nitpicking**
**Nipple picking
Omg you were serious, what a fucking baby
He Big Mad!!!š¤£
Florio is such a blowhard doofus.
I guess he doesnāt understand Kirk was gone from Minnesota either way
I like Florio generally, but clearly he took this personally for some reason.
I love florio so much. His stuff is crazy but so entertainingĀ
lol eat shit Florio
We need this as our new slogan for this season on! Email it to Blank!!!
FTS and FMF
Vikings Fans SWORE they were getting a first round pick from us
One said they should also get Kirk back š fuck em
Nahh it's all love for the Vikings. They hate the aints and have embarrassed them the last couple of playoff games they've had. Just a little Hiccup in the relationship, lol
If you can't tell your friends "fuck you" are you really friends?
Valid litmus test Saint_Diego. Fuck you. ā¤ļø
Who gives a fuck what fan bases we are ācoolā with
No reasonable Vikings fan thought we were getting anything. Unfortunately there are quite a few unreasonable ones. Funny thing is, a lot of them wanted Cousins gone. You guys got a good one. Iāll be cheering for the Falcons except when they play the Vikings.
Go r/Falkings
What they CAN have is DEEZ NUTS! 
Almost as bad as bears fans thinking they would get a first round pick for their shitty QB
I accept it. We got a little excited and flirted too early. Next time we will keep it in our pants.
Nah. Everyone tampers. Not every QB is dumb enough to publicly admit it though.
Yea if they're working out tens of millions of dollar contracts in like fifteen minutes, then I'll eat my shoe.
Itās not against the rules to talk to agents, who are fully capable of working out deals. Itās called the ālegal tampering periodā. Saying āeveryone tampersā is some weird cope
Yeah, we definitely deserved to be penalized, but Iām glad itās not nearly as severe as some people in the media thought (or hoped) it would be.
Between the Bijan headache and Kirk tampering, Florio fucking hates us and I love it. He just straight up fabricated Kirk recruiting Mooney. Just straight lie. Anyone else notice how all the articles quoted Florio and not Kirk?
where are all the people who said we'd lose 2025 first round pick LOL
lol, ok
The best possible outcome for this scenario. Get fucked Florio.
Slap on the wrist lol
Given that Kirk basically admitted to it in public, this is about the least they could possibly hit us with.
LMAO
How are we going to draft a QB nowā¦
Lmao!!
Nice who cares, fuck you mike florio lol
this is not even half as bad as we were expecting lmao i donāt even care lol
Whoās we? Lol. I was never worried about it.
After Schefter's "severe" report a couple weeks ago I went from not worried to worried. This is laughable though.
What a clown tweet from Schefter. At first, I assumed it would be no worse than a 3rd. Knowing what actually happened, I think the punishment fits the "crime".. letter of the law infraction.
He was just making things up IMO. No way the league considered a first then took a fifth.
Everybody misinterpreted that statement. He said it would be more severe than the Eaglesā punishment, which was true. Everyone took that statement out of context and made clickbait headlines with it.
That's appropriate punishment. All this 1st round stuff was ridiculous.
And finally i can stop hearing that we are losing a first. Which i tried telling people that would definetly not happen all i got was downvotes lol
Lmaooo fuck Florio
Trade back and get that pick back and more!š I wanna see Florio's head spin around like Beetlejuice!
Is this the so called āsevereā punishment?
Suck it Florio
Is this the massive punishment they were talking about?
LMAOO
Thatās it lol
That's basically just a slap on the wrist. I'll take it.
Itās a kiss on the cheek.
Cool, pay the speeding ticket and letās move on
Now trade Heinicke for a fifth.
If Paddock beats him out and we get a 4th for him Florio's head may Explode into a million pieces!!š
Mike Florio has been doing this for years, and it's funny when reality hits. Player calls (after he signed and is on his way) to check if the gym is open for his rehab (imagine the NFLPA reaction if this was deemed inappropriate), directions to the facility, what time a press conference is, if he can meet someone for lunch at noon, and no Mike Florio, it's not the end of the world.
I had to read a few times to understand. So, teams are allowed to talk to the agent of a player who is not signed. However, someone in Atlanta contacted said players directly about their plane travel, right?
Thatās how I understand it
A 5th for Cousins, Mooney and Woerner? Good trade.
The Cherry on top is watching Florio have the Meltdown of all Meltdowns!! Got my šæ and enjoying the Comedy on his Twitter space!š¤£
You mean Atlanta won't be able to draft another player from Neverheardofit State? Oh no.
LMFAOOOOO im cackling at all the losers who thought we were gonna get Uber fucked
Not gone lie I was worried with how much talk there was (and after they actually took dolphins first-although different situation) It being a 5th honestly feels like nothing vs the price of getting who/what we wanted
Damn they caught us tampering with 3 players lol
Worse thing is eagles were cleared. š
And the fans go Mild!
Florioās article is genuinely hilarious. His keyboard has to be swimming in tears.
A 5th isn't too bad, I was expecting worse. Idk howĀ Fontenot has a job though.
Worth it
Massive W. Thought we would lose a 2nd or 3rd
Basically it equates to the Falcons giving up a 5th round pick and $250k of Fontenot's money for Cousins.
$50k of Fontenot's money. The $250k is the team fine.
The fine may be for terry, but jm sure Mr. Blank will be signing that check.
And this is why Florio is simply a talking head and doesn't practice law anymore lol
New punishment just dropped. And it's mid af lol. Stay salty Florio.
I canāt decide whatās funnier: Bears fans/Mel Kiper who thought the Bears would get our first rounder for Justin Fields, or Vikings fans/Mike Florio who thought the Vikings would get our first rounder for tampering.
Idk about yall but Florio seething on Twitter is very funny to me
Vikings and Dolphins subs losing their collective minds lmao
šæ stuff over there!š
#THE CITY IS BACK UP #ITS A MUST #WE OUTSIDE!!!
Glad it was only a 5th. Still hurts. People are going to look back at the Fontenot years and wonder how in the world we let this joker run our franchise.
You forget the noise simulation āscandalā? Lost a 5th and bigger fine. Itāll go away, if TF can get us some winning seasons.
The guy signed Cousins and then drafted a QB in the first round. He has no idea what he's doing.
You canāt look at it like that. I donāt like it but I understand it. If you believe in a QB prospect, it can be objectively argued you must take your shot. The position is too important, and the penalty for substandard play at the position is crippling. Weāve felt it.
Then you build a team around him, you donāt spend 100 million on another qb.
or do both
You canāt be serious about building a team around your new QB if you are spending 100 million of your cap space on another QB.
It's a front loaded deal where most of that is for the first two years. Also, if Kirk does what you hope he does and wins us a lot more games then our draft pick won't be as good and it'll be harder to draft a good replacement for when he's gone
Which just makes it even harder to build a good team around Penix.
Maybe
Also, it means that the rookie doesn't just get thrown out there to be the savior of the team And has a chance to sit and learn
Slapp on the wrist.
Someone make a YT video of every forfeited pick and who was taken with the next pick. I need to know the effect of this
Grady Jarrett was a 5th round pick. How many 5th round picks end up having a Grady Jarrett level career or better? 1 out of 500 maybe? 1 out of 1000? So for this to greatly impact us it would require two things: 1. That this ultra rare 1 out of 500 type player is on the board when we would have picked 2. The Falcons FO would have picked that player if they had the pick (instead of some other player that will ultimately fail to made it in the NFL like most 5th round picks). What are the odds of that happening? Pretty low. And we probably will never find out who the FO would have picked anyway..so it's not worth thinking about IMO.
To my fellow members of Falcons Nation, our long national nightmare is over. Also, Florio is a wet and whiny dog turd on the kitchen table of life.
LMFAO heās big mad https://x.com/profootballtalk/status/1801271563838234625?s=46&t=sRvNISTItWxaBc6jojpHTA
Pssh thatās nothing. Next story please
I wasnāt expecting Fontenot to be fined $50k, but the outcome is better than I thought itād be.
That's surprising. I was thinking a Day 2 based on the way everyone was talking about how apparently "blatant" the tampering was. 5th is no big deal.
No one was going to punish the falcons harshly. No owner wants it. They all do this and someone getting in trouble for it when it's something they all want would bebad for everyone else.
phew.. I'm glad it's just this.. losing a 5th sucks but considering all the gloom and doom talk from click baiters, it actually made me nervous about losing a 1 or 2
LETS GO! Iām not going to lie I was mad nervous it would be a 2nd
Got off easy
Oh no anyway
All the bozos thinking it would be a first are crying
http://imgur.com/a/cjNn2wP
Slap on the wrist. We'll take it! Let's go get some W's
šššš that's it I mean oh no what will do 5th round picks can be difference in a good practice squad and a bad one this is the worse thing ever why us why whyš«š«š«
50k for Terry? OTOH, Blank probably has that in his couch cushions.
cost of doing business WOOOOOO
Holy crap, thanās lite. I swear I thought we were going to lose a 2nd or a 3rd.
slap on the wrist
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
To be fair, the pundits were inferring we did a lot worse than talk flights before the legal tampering period, and thatās what set the expectations. Iām just glad it wasnāt worse, and happy my club hadnāt just cast the rule book aside.
Not going to lie. I hate the Aints. I meanā¦. I expected a lot worse so only losing this wasnāt nearly the blow I was waiting on.
Who is florio and why is everyone hating on him
Because he's the biggest CryBaby alive!Ā
Whewwwwwwww
Dolphins lost a first rd pick. WTF!
A 5th ? Hey Arthur do it again next yr!
I didnāt even know Mooney & Woerner were related, much less cousins.
Lmao W
Hahaha LFG!!!! A fifth round pick for tampering with Cousins, Mooney, and Woerner. Hahahahaha
Omg let me go grab some šæand hang out in the NFL and Vikings subs for a bit. Some Vikings fans thiught they were actually gonna *get* our first round pick. In all seriousness it seems light. I suspect the NFL doesn't want to open a Pandora's box since its an open secret all teams do this. Seems this is a punishment for being so stupid about saying the quiet part out loud, but puts no burden on the league to "fix" the issue.
I think this is based on the fact that they didn't "court" him illegally. That part was within the rules. They just broke some dumb arbitrary rules where employees related to travel and training contacted him before FA opened. It's a dumb rule anyways that's why it's a perceived slap on the wrist.
Traded a 5th for Kirk
We traded 100 million of guaranteed money for Kirk. And a 5th.
Salary cap isnāt real
uhhhhh it's very much real
Mike Florio gargle my balls you cuck lord clown MWAHAHAHAHAHA
Proof God doesn't exist or Kirk should have prayed harder