The Atlanta Falcons had to forfeit a fifth-round pick and pay a $250,000 fine as a result of a tampering violation related to their pursuit of current quarterback Kirk Cousins, but team owner Arthur Blank does not seem to think that it was a big deal.
During a recent press conference, Arthur Blank claimed that the tampering violation was a result of “a couple of procedural mistakes” by the organization.
“So, the tampering situation, we were advised by the NFL that we didn’t dot every ‘I’ and cross every ‘T,’ despite our attempt to do that,” Blank said according to Pro Football Talk. “There were a couple of procedural mistakes, I think, that were made by the organization. We fully cooperated with the NFL, as we always do in any sort of investigation. They found there were certain things were deficient in the way we handled things with Kirk. We’ve addressed those things internally.
“Find something that’s a problem, you fix it and make sure it doesn’t happen again, and that’s our attitude about it. The NFL is certainly doing their job and doing it well.”
All in all, the punishment was rather light, all things considered. So the Falcons will be happy to move on from it.