Washington Redskins Should Sign Kirk Cousins Before The Tag Deadline

The Redskins Have To Just Give Cousins The Money To Ensure He Stays

Rather than attempting to make sense of the tangle of possibilities a tag would produce, the team should consider its ominous ramifications: if it tags Cousins, he could gone next year. If that’s the case, the specter of a lame-duck season will undoubtedly touch off speculation that Cousins should be moved. On its face, that’s an eminently logical and reasonable option. If Cousins walks in 2018, the Redskins would have nothing to show for it other than, at most, a third round compensatory pick. Dealing him now, on the other hand, would fetch the team some type of compensation not just this year, but in 2018 as well.

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But whatever the Redskins would obtain in exchange for Cousins would be cold comfort for the loss of its franchise quarterback. The team is well aware of the vagaries inherent in draft picks and the abject absence of any legitimate replacements for Cousins. And franchise quarterbacks are rare commodities, especially those you know and who’ve excelled in hour system. All of which is why the team must sharpen its resolve to strike a bargain with Cousins in the coming days, not weeks.

To be sure, the team isn’t without any bargaining power in this year’s negotiations. Cousins’ uneven finish down the stretch, his failure to convert in the red zone, and his penchant for throwing some very untimely picks are demerits that weigh against any contractual terms he’ll seek. A tag would also mean that Cousins would need another prove-it year and assume, once again, the risk of injury. And the pastures where Cousins could leave for aren’t hardly greener. He’d need to learn a new system with new players, and a trade to quarterback-needy franchises such as San Francisco and Chicago would represent more of an exile than a change-of-scenery.

While these aren’t irrelevant considerations, the team runs the risk if it hard-pedals them with Cousins. That’s because the organization is out of excuses for gamesmanship with him, which, in particular, includes any hollow reliance on fiscal responsibility. A lottery-like deal won’t affect their cap: the team has about $64 million in cap space and can easily clear out several million more by cutting some oft-injured, older veterans. And to the extent his deal may carve up more space in future seasons, Cousins, who’s always been a straight-shooter, has pledged to trim his cap number to accommodate what the team needs to sign other teammates or free agents.