Kirk Cousins seemingly got very little accomplished in long-term contract extension talks with Washington this offseason, but that does not mean the quarterback believes 2017 will be his last year with the team.
Cousins told 106.7 The Fan on Tuesday that he is “at peace” with playing another season under the franchise tag, but only having a one-year deal does not mean he plans on going anywhere.
“It has always been my first choice to be with the Redskins,” Cousins said, via Kevin Patra of NFL.com. “When you look around the league and you see great quarterbacks, they’ve nearly all played for one team. And the ones that haven’t, it really wasn’t their choice. It was usually a situation that dictated they had to move on, but that wasn’t their preference.
“I’m no different, I would love to be with the Redskins long-term. That’s why I think that there’s still a lot of hope that next offseason, when the season ends, the Redskins are going to have, I think, about two months to be the exclusive team that I can talk with. Then they still have the opportunity, if we’re not anywhere at that point, to use one of two tags.”
Cousins said being hit with the franchise tag again next offseason would be a “beautiful thing” because it means Washington had a good season in 2017. It would also mean him being guaranteed around $35 million for the 2018 season. Washington could also use the transition tag, which would allow them to match any offer sheet Cousins signs with another team.
Despite team president Bruce Allen essentially blaming Cousins for no long-term deal being reached, the 28-year-old says there are no hard feelings.
“It was closer than people would think,” he explained. “Even up to a week ago, I was still praying over whether we should send an offer … but ultimately I just felt peace on not making an offer and leaving it up to the team … based on their offers being able to go from there and then the deadline passed and play the season out.”
There’s a growing belief that one team is prepared to make Cousins a monster offer next offseason — assuming Washington doesn’t use the franchise tag again. Even if the relationship between Cousins and his bosses is strained, he would never admit that publicly. He still has at least one more year of football to play under them.
