Potential tampering punishment could be a total disaster for the Denver Broncos

It seems as if the Atlanta Falcons might have tampered during their pursuit of Kirk Cousins during the NFL offseason period. Could a potential solution to this mess actually hurt the Denver Broncos? Here is the situation all hashed out by Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk for those who might be curious:

"The Falcons tampering with quarterback Kirk Cousins, as proven by the things Cousins said during his introductory press conference. The NFL is investigating. If the NFL is serious about getting to the truth, an investigation that makes the blatant tampering even more clear should not require many steps.

The question becomes whether and to what extent the Falcons will be punished. Some think the presence of Rich McKay on the Competition Committee will get the Falcons a pass. Obviously, that shouldn’t be the case. (However, they did get less of a punishment for pumping fake crowd noise into the Georgia Dome than the 49ers received for a simple accounting error.)

Given the manner in which the NFL handled last year’s tampering by the Cardinals with former Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon, it’s impossible to rule out an announcement that drops just before the first round of the draft.

The Falcons have the eighth pick in round one. The Vikings have the eleventh. What if the punishment is as simple as the Falcons and Vikings flip-flopping the two picks?"

- Mike Florio, Pro Football Talk

If you didn't think the NFL punished teams for tampering, they do, and when it's something as high profile as a major QB move, the league is surely going to investigate this thoroughly. Now, Florio suggesting a pick swap between the Falcons and Vikings just seems to be him proposing a potential solution.

But when you think about it, that proposal actually makes sense, and it would then move the Vikings up to the 8th overall pick instead of their 11th overall pick. Minnesota would be that much closer to a potential top quarterback prospect, and this would only turn into a total disaster for the Denver Broncos.

If the Vikings got up to the 8th overall pick, they wouldn't have many more spots to move up to select a QB, and heck, they might even be able to get their QB with that pick. This would then mean that the Broncos would really have to make a huge move up the draft board if they were hoping to land one of the "big 4" QBs in Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye, and JJ McCarthy.

It's currently "lying season" if you will, so reports and rumors that say this team or that team is interested in such and such player might not be true at all.

However, if this tampering punishment were to look like what Mike Florio suggested, the Denver Broncos could be in a ton of trouble.