Kirk Cousins open to negotiating with Washington Redskins after the season
The Washington Redskins and Kirk Cousins will not agree to a long-term extension before Monday’s deadline. Still, Cousins is open to negotiating with the team after the season.
In an unsurprising move, the Washington Redskins and Kirk Cousins are not going to reach a deal before the deadline to extend franchise players on Monday. Per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Cousins is not going to sign any deal before the deadline, but he is open to negotiating with the Redskins beyond this season.
Cousins and the Redskins have long been trying to agree on a long-term deal. Since Cousins became the Redskins starter, the team has been very competitive. In the past two seasons, Cousins has led the team to a 17-14-1 record with one playoff appearance. They have not won in the postseason with Cousins at the helm, but as the team improves at other positions, so should their postseason success.
Because of these arguments, Cousins has been angling for a deal that would have been comparable to Andrew Luck’s deal that paid about $24 million per season. However, the Redskins were reluctant to pay Cousins that much because they wanted him to further prove himself. As Cousins continued to do so, his asking price went up, and that made negotiations between the two parties difficult.
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The Redskins wanted a deal closer to $20 million per year. That has since flown out the window thanks to Derek Carr’s $25 million contract. So now, the Redskins will have to pony up the big bucks in order to keep Cousins, and the contract will likely exceed Carr’s. Still, it will take a shift in organizational thought for the Redskins to land Cousins. They will have to come to terms with the fact that they need to pay Cousins more than they want to if they want to keep him. If they choose not to, Cousins can just walk away to another team in free agency.
Even though this situation is tense, the Redskins have to be happy that Cousins is willing to negotiate with the team after the season. This will give the Redskins a chance to evaluate Cousins for another year and if he succeeds, they will be able to offer him a deal that better reflects his value while still feeling confident in their investment.
Next: Redskins RB rankings for 2017
As this situation continue to develop, Cousins is continuing to give the Redskins one thing: hope. He likes playing in Washington, and he may want to stay here. Perhaps he is willing to bury the hatchet in his minor contract feud if the Redskins drive their price up to around what the Carr deal is worth. If not, he has other options in San Francisco and Los Angeles, but neither is a playoff ready team. Because of that, it seems like Cousins would want to stay and try to win a championship in Washington. Only time will tell if Cousins is long for D.C.