Redskins: Kirk Cousins surprised by trade, excited for free agency
Kirk Cousins is hitting the free agent market this offseason and will leave the Washington Redskins. He didn’t know about the trade for Alex Smith.
The Washington Redskins have a habit of leaving their players in the dark about key issues. Kendall Fuller was the last person to know about his being traded to the Kansas City Chiefs on Tuesday night in the Alex Smith deal. Now, it’s come to light that Kirk Cousins wasn’t made aware of the deal either.
Cousins, who has been on the Redskins for six years and has been the starter for the past three, was set to become one of the highest paid quarterbacks in NFL history on the open market. The team made a decision to let him walk and get Smith, but apparently, Cousins didn’t know about the trade for the Kansas City quarterback.
According to an interview with Sirius XM, referenced in a story by ESPN’s John Keim, Cousins said the following of the trade and his situation.
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"It came as a surprise,. I certainly hadn’t heard anything. In this league, I learned curveballs come all the time. I expect to be a free agent come March 14. We’ll see if that plays out. If it does, it’s a unique opportunity I look forward to. I haven’t had a chance to pick where I play since 2007, when I chose to go to Michigan State."
Letting Cousins go wasn’t necessarily a bad move, but not letting him know that they were trading for his replacement was yet another poor move by the front office. They could have at least had the courtesy to call him and say they were trading for his replacement so he wouldn’t hear about it from the media. But, that type of organizational empathy is a stranger to the Washington front office.
On the bright side for Cousins, he is excited about what he described as “a unique experience that may only happen one time in my career.”
There’s no doubt that there will be heavy interest in Kirk Cousins on the free agent market. Cousins is the best quarterback to hit the market in a very long time, and there are a lot of teams starved for franchise quarterbacks like the Denver Broncos. Also, don’t rule out the Minnesota Vikings as a possible landing spot, as upgrading that position could give the team a chance to be the Super Bowl favorite if their strong defense sticks around.
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It will be interesting to see where Cousins ends up, but the fact that he was surprised by the trade showcases the lack of communication between the front office and the team’s star players.