ORLANDO — NFL commissioner Roger Goodell acknowledged that the Falcons are being investigated for tampering in the signing of Kirk Cousins at the owners’ meeting Tuesday.
He has not been updated on the case.
“No,” Goodell said when asked if there was an update. “I usually don’t give an update until it’s concluded.”
The Falcons and the Eagles – the signing of running back Saquon Barkley – are being investigated for tampering charges by the league office.
“I’m sure they are making progress,” Goodell said. “I know they were hard at work at it, immediately.”
Falcons owner Arthur Blank said the team doesn’t believe it tampered in the signing of Cousins to a four-year contract that worth up to $180 million.
“The tampering deal, we obviously don’t believe we tampered,” Blank said while leaving a meeting Monday. “We shared all of the information with the league. They’ll review the process and the facts. They are in the middle of doing that. Whatever the result is, we’ll deal with it.”
Falcons coach Raheem Morris was cautious in his comments about the case.
“Really not allowed to discuss it while it’s under review,” Morris said Tuesday. “But I’ve got a lot of confidence in our people that we did the right thing.”
Tampering violations are considered serious by the league.
For tampering with wide receiver Jeremy Maclin, the Chiefs were stripped of their third-round draft pick in 2016 and their sixth-round pick in 2017 and fined $250,000. Chiefs coach Andy Reid also was fined $50,000, and then-general manager John Dorsey was fined $25,000.
The Chiefs were cited for “improper contact” before the start of free agency that year. Maclin played in Philadelphia for Reid before signing a five-year, $55 million deal with the Chiefs.
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