If Dan Quinn was hired by the Jets instead of Todd Bowles, the team likely would have dumped Geno Smith in favor of Kirk Cousins, Manish Mehta of the Daily News hears. Quinn’s plan for Gang Green included adding offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, and his vision didn’t include Smith. Sources say the Washington play-caller wanted to instead trade for Cousins, who showed promise in two years under Shanahan While you ponder that what-if, here’s more from around the NFL..
- After the Colts signed T.Y. Hilton to a $65MM deal, Stephen Holder of the Indy Star wonders if the team will still have enough room to get deals done with its other young stars. The Colts will have to cut a massive check to Pro Bowl quarterback Andrew Luck, who will command far more than $20MM annually. Also, the team is negotiating with left tackle Anthony Castonzo, who is essential as one of Luck’s protectors. By the time the Colts get to the likes of tight ends Dwayne Allen and Coby Fleener, it’s fair to wonder if they’ll have enough cash to get deals done.
- Jets guard Oday Aboushi has been suspended without pay for the first game of the season for violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy, Brian Costello of the New York Post tweets. In a statement issued by Aboushi’s reps (via Rand Getlin of NFL.com on Twitter), they explained that the lineman was stopped in his car back in January when cops found a small amount of pot in his car.
- With the Bills and Browns facing off on Monday night, Chris Fedor of The Plain Dealer revisited last year’s Sammy Watkins deal. Cornerback Justin Gilbert, who the Browns took with the No. 8 pick, has been off to a rough start and some are question whether he’ll ever meet his rookie year expectations. Cleveland’s side of the deal will also hinge heavily on the future of offensive lineman Cameron Erving, who the Browns selected with the Bills’ pick this year.
Wonder what it would have taken to pry Cousins away from Washington. It seems like they want to see RGIII in the starting role all year, but they also never really seemed that interested in moving Cousins — maybe they just didn’t get the right offer.
I know Kyle Shanahan has a different perspective from watching him practice, but Cousins hasn’t put much on film that would entice another GM to offer more than a conditional Day Three pick.
In the last year of his contract now, Cousins value probably isn’t much different than Ryan Mallett’s was a year ago, except Mallett was more expendable for the Patriots with Jimmy Garoppolo on the team, where Cousins is still the primary backup in Washington.