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With quarterback Kirk Cousins headed to Atlanta, he will be interested in securing the number 8. The player who currently has that number appears to be interested in giving it up.
Tight end Kyle Pitts, after raising the issue of who gets the number 8He published an image of himself from his days in Florida, where wore the number 84. That seems to indicate Pitts’ willingness to give up his number.
The problem arose last week, during my visit to Pat McAfee and company. We talked about our report that Cousins was making plans for a possible move to Atlanta. I mentioned that we had even heard, but not verified, that Cousins and Pitts were already talking about whether Pitts will hand the No. 8 to Cousins.
Pitts denied it at the time. I ignored his refusal, for a very specific reason. Even if it were true, he had to deny it. It’s the kind of argument that, if not denied, could spark a tampering investigation.
Now, we all know tampering happens all the time, especially in the days leading up to free agency. But the NFL doesn’t ignore everything. Every once in a while, the NFL hits someone. The more egregious the manipulation, the more likely the team that manipulated it will be punished.
As I told McAfee and his colleagues last week, that part was not verified. We never wrote it here. Still, it’s not much different from what we did verify: that Cousins and his wife were looking for a school for the children and a home for the family near the Falcons facility.
Some seem to think Cousins signing with the Falcons validates our report. I do not completely agree. We never reported that Cousins would sign with the Falcons. We reported that he was making preparations to move his family to Atlanta, if necessary. Those facts would have been true if he had stayed in Minnesota, signed with the Falcons or chosen any other team.
Of course, if he had stayed in Minnesota, many would have simply assumed what we reported was wrong, citing him for the next year or two when one of our reports amounts to “bad news” for their favorite team, or whatever. And that’s fine. We can only control how we present information. We cannot control how it will be interpreted.
One thing I have learned over the last 23 years is that there will always be people who see what they want to see and who hear what they want to hear. There will also be people who, for whatever reason, will distort reality to tell us that we are wrong, and who will also ignore reality when the time comes to recognize that we could have been right.