The Washington Redskins should be quite familiar with Kirk Cousins and what he is capable of by now. The quarterback has started every game for the team for the past three seasons, but apparently that is not enough to make a determination about his future.
NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport reported last week that the Redskins will evaluate Cousins’ play over the final five games of the 2017 season to decide how they will handle his contract situation.
“Riddled with injuries, with half of his offensive line on injured reserve and two top running backs out, Cousins can step to the forefront and will his team to some victories late in the season,” Rapoport wrote. “The thinking goes that franchise QBs pull their teams to two or three wins a year that other teams with pedestrian passers have no chance at. If Cousins does, it will solidify his standing as the ‘Skins star for the future and his contract will be in line with what other elite passers get.”
When asked about the report in a recent interview with 106.7 The Fan’s Grant Paulsen and Danny Rouhier, Cousins said he hadn’t seen it. As usual, he chose not to stir the pot.
“You know, I can understand the unique situation that it is, and you’re trying to find value in every player at every position,” he said, according to CBS DC. “If you still need five more games, or five-plus, to make a decision, so be it, but I’d like to think that I’ve played a lot of football here.
“I’ve been here six years and I think the people in the building have gotten to know me, who I am as a man, who I am as a football player, what I’m about and who I’m gonna be going forward. And I’d like to think they can make an informed decision regardless. But if they need five more games, so be it, but I understand the need to find value and understand what you’re getting.”
Sources told Rapoport that the Redskins don’t consider using the transition tag — which would pay Cousins a minimum of $28.8 million in 2018 and allow other teams to make offers to him — a viable option. They could franchise tag him for the third consecutive year, but that would mean guaranteeing Cousins $34.5 million. Free agency is the other option.
The team Cousins has been most frequently linked to seems to have found its own quarterback of the future, but there would be no shortage of interest in the 29-year-old on the free agent market. A team like the Jacksonville Jaguars, who have a defense that is ready to contend for a Super Bowl, could decide to throw huge money at Cousins.
