Washington Redskins Should Sign Kirk Cousins Before The Tag Deadline

Let’s Make A Deal

General Manager Bruce Allen recently remarked that a long-term deal with Cousins won’t be complicated. If that’s true, it’s a wonder why he’s waited so long to come to terms with Cousins. The team could’ve begun negotiating with him six weeks ago (from the end of the regular season), a period of time that presumably would’ve been sufficient to put together an “uncomplicated” contract. That it hasn’t done so is symptomatic of the continued dereliction of the team’s relationship with its starting quarterback.

But Allen is undoubtedly right: if the team thinks about it, the negotiations can be simple. This can be accomplished in several ways, one of which is to use Luck’s deal as a model for Cousins’ contract. A simple markup in certain key provisions such as a signing bonus and guaranteed salary in the first two years of the contract could close out bargaining quickly. The Redskins, however, are running out of time.

If the team reaches the franchise tag deadline without a deal, it could signal a franchise-changing watershed. While that’s not a certainty, the potential significance of that date can’t be lost on the franchise. If they tag Cousins, he may sign it and refuse to bargain with the team. While that would ensure that Cousins remains a Redskin in 2017, it may usher in his farewell season as well. Everyone understands the implications of that.

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The team has less than two weeks to sign Cousins to a deal he’s spent his five-year Redskins tenure seeking. Allen and the team are saying all the right things to lock Cousins down for the next several years.

It’s now incumbent on them to do the right thing.

Now.