Kirk Cousins is not off to a good start in 2017 after his rough game against the Philadelphia Eagles last weekend, and you can count former Washington cornerback Fred Smoot among those who are not surprised.
Judging by some comments he made in an appearance on ESPN 980 in the nation’s capital Monday, it’s clear Smoot is not a believer in Cousins.
“We cannot let Kirk off the hook with this,” he said, as transcribed by Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post. “It starts with him, and he starts slow every year. People don’t understand: Sometimes you’ve got to look at the package for what it is. We’re talking about a quarterback that demands $20 million-plus a year, that hasn’t won a playoff game, bad in the red zone, throws for four or five thousand yards but can’t complete and end drives. He’s also [29] years old.”
Cousins will make nearly $24 million this season playing under the franchise tag for a second consecutive year. He is expected to attract some huge offers when he becomes a free agent next offseason, but Smoot believes any team that signs Cousins to a big-money deal would be making a mistake.
“You wonder why we ain’t got no identity on offense? Because he doesn’t have an identity,” Smoot added. “What, he’s a late-quarter stat hound? He’s a completion guy that can’t throw outside the numbers? He’s a guy that cannot get in the end zone? Look at the numbers in the red zone last year! That’s decision-making. When the field gets small, it’s all about pulling the trigger.
“And right now, if I compare his weapons to the weapons of Aaron Rodgers or the weapons of [Derek] Carr, he has the better weapons. He’s had the better weapons the last three years. And we’ve [won] no playoff games. And everybody gives him the benefit of the doubt, because we ain’t had no quarterback since Sonny Jurgensen.”
Cousins might do slight damage to his value if he continues to play like he did in Week 1, but Smoot’s issue is probably more about the quarterback market than anything else. The quarterback play across the NFL has been so bad in recent years that guys like Cousins are near the top of the list — even if his stats don’t tell the entire story.
There’s a growing belief that at least one team is prepared to offer Cousins huge money, and it remains to be seen if Washington will try to match. If they asked for Smoot’s advice (spoiler: they won’t), we all know what he would say.
