Kirk Cousins hints at friction within Vikings, snitches on Falcons for tampering

During his introductory news conference with the Atlanta Falcons on Wednesday, four-time Pro Bowl quarterback Kirk Cousins shared some interesting thoughts about his old team while snitching on his new one. 

First, Cousins spoke about his decision to join the Falcons, seemingly confirming that not everyone within the Minnesota Vikings organization was behind his return. 

"A coach told me this when I was a young player in the league, a coach that I have a lot of respect for, 'When the owner, general manager and quarterback are on the same page, that's when you really have a chance to win a Super Bowl," Cousins said. "As I look at the Atlanta Falcons, I believe strongly that the owner, head coach, general manager and quarterback can all be on the same page and that's exciting for me." 

The belief heading into the offseason was that Cousins would eventually return to the Vikings, the team he's played the last six seasons with. However, as time progressed, the messages from head coach Kevin O'Connell and general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah seemed to come from different places. 

O'Connell recently said that Cousins "knows how I feel," adding that he believed the QB wanted to be a Viking. Meanwhile, Adofo-Mensah said all the right things about Cousins, but when asked about contract negotiations, he said, "We have our interests, he has his." 

The second and perhaps most damning admission Cousins made on Wednesday might land the Falcons in hot water. 

While speaking with reporters, Cousins slipped up, saying that Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts had begun recruiting him to Atlanta "a few weeks" ago. Now, there's no way of knowing the exact date, but a few weeks seems to confirm that contact came long before the NFL legal tampering period on Monday. 

Also adding to the intrigue is that the Vikings and Cousins had reached an agreement roughly 30 minutes into the tampering period. 

It could be much ado about nothing. Nevertheless, as Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk pointed out, the league will likely investigate to eliminate the possibility of any wrongdoing. If they can't, the Vikings could face punishment. 

"While it's not tampering if Pitts was simply doing it on his own, it becomes tampering if he did it with the knowledge of or at the behest of the team," Florio wrote. "That would be something for the NFL to determine, if/when it's inclined to investigate. Text messages, e-mails, etc. would prove it, especially if it happened blatantly. (And it possibly did.)"