Paying Kirk Cousins
By jonfox
Failing to work out a long-term deal with Kirk Cousins has created an interesting situation for the Washington Redskins.
Arguably the biggest issue in the Redskins’ offseason and probably for Scot McCloughan’s tenure as general manager of the team is the contract status of Kirk Cousins. The Redskins, if you believe the rumors, reluctantly franchise tagged Cousins this offseason and will be paying him 19.9 million dollars on the hopes that he can repeat his 2015 production.
There have been numerous reports about a sharp divide between the team and the Cousins’ camp regarding any potential long term contract. With the deadline for giving a franchie tagged player a new contract passed, Cousins will become the first ever quarterback to play on a tag and not an extension.
Reportedly, the Cousins Camp asked the Redskins for an extension that surpassed Brock Osweiler’s contract with Houston and was relatively close to what Andrew Luck got from the Colts. Cousins asked for 20 million a season on average, 44 million dollars up front(so that the Redskins can’t dump the deal for 4 seasons) and 55-60 million total guaranteed.
The Redskins’ final offer was 16 million a season on average, 24 million up front and 35 million total guaranteed.
The Redskins and specifically their General Manager appear to have leaked their plans to Mike Florio. Filling in for Peter King in the MMQB on monday, he wrote:
"It’s not easy to reconcile the team’s willingness to give Cousins nearly $20 million guaranteed for one year but only $24 guaranteed on a multi-year deal. The answer resides in G.M. Scot McCloughan’s quiet confidence that he can find another quarterback with comparable skill for a lot less money.Cousins wanted $44 million fully guaranteed at signing, roughly the sum of what he would have made under the tag this year ($19.95 million) and next year with a 20-percent raise ($23.94 million). Instead of paying Cousins that much money now, Washington can pay him the $19.95 million now and, if he plays well against this season, the $23.94 million next year. Then, come 2018, Washington will either sign him to a long-term deal based on his open-market value (whatever it may be), use the tag a third time (which is unlikely, given that he’d get a 44-percent raise to $34.47 million), or let him leave and replace him with someone who has been groomed to take over.The team believes that, by 2017 or 2018, it will have found a quarterback on a slotted, low-money rookie four-year deal who can do what Cousins does, or close to it. That could be 2016 rookie sixth-rounder Nate Sudfeld, or it could be someone else. Regardless, Washington believes that someone younger, cheaper, and just as good if not better can be found, if Cousins still insists after 2016 or 2017 on breaking the bank."
This is a very wordy way of saying this: “Cousins isn’t our future unless he becomes a superstar quarterback in 2016 and even then we might just franchise tag him again and look for a younger replacement.” Or even more simply put: expect the Redskins to be drafting a quarterback in the first two rounds of the 2017 draft.
Why would they risk the unknown after their quarterback put up a franchise record in passing yards? The answer is quite simple: they believe his 2015 season was a mirage.
It’s fair speculation to say that they don’t know why he did so well and they’re very doubtful that Kirk Cousins can take the next step and become a consistently elite quarterback.
Don’t cry for Kirk Cousins though. He did turn down a very large contract offer from the Redskins and unless he’s benched or is caught running a dog fighting ring, he will cash in somewhere in 2017.