Redskins Notes: Cousins, Brees, Callahan
Could Drew Brees‘ pending free agency impact Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins? JP Finlay of CSNMidAtlantic.com rightly notes that the two quarterbacks would fill two very different needs for teams if they were to reach the open market next offseason. Brees will be 39 in March and he might be willing to sign a one-year deal with a contender. Meanwhile, Cousins will be 30 and looking for a record-setting deal.
I believe there would be some teams in the middle of the Cousins-Brees Venn Diagram, so the possibility of the two QBs affecting each other’s market is real. However, the possibility of Brees being on the open market at the same time will not and should not affect Cousins’ stance on negotiations with five days to go between now and the deadline for franchise-tagged players to sign extensions.
Here’s more on Cousins and the Redskins:
- We already know that Cousins won’t be giving the Redskins any form of a hometown discount, but Finlay plays devil’s advocate and makes the case that he should give it some thought. Finlay points out that coach Jay Gruden showed confidence in Cousins gave him his first real opportunity to shine and that Cousins has been given lots of offensive weapons to work with in Washington. Cousins may also want to consider that he is extremely familiar with the Redskins’ system and he may prefer to go that route instead of starting fresh somewhere else.
- Redskins offensive line coach Bill Callahan could be due for another shot as an NFL head coach, the ESPN.com staff opines. The offensive line whisperer led the Raiders to the AFC Championship and is still well-regarded around the NFL. Callahan turns 61 later this month and it remains to be seen whether he wants to be a head coach again. Back in January, Callahan’s agent acknowledged that he might be open to an opportunity to serve as an offensive coordinator somewhere.
- What might a Cousins extension look like? Former NFL agent Joel Corry suggested an interesting five-year contract for the QB this week.
Redskins Notes: Cousins, CBs, Garcon
What will it take for the Redskins to sign Kirk Cousins to a new deal in the next six days? Joel Corry of CBSSports.com, a former agent, took a stab at figuring out a fair deal. His whole breakdown is worth a read, but here are the basic parameters of his suggested contract: 
- Deal length: Five years
- Deal total: $130MM
- Yearly average: $26MM
- Guaranteed money: $84.25MM
- Fully guaranteed at signing: $61.75MM
- Signing bonus: $22.5MM
Such a deal would give Cousins serious financial security, but he would only be the league’s highest-paid player for a short period of time. The framework laid out here would be used as a baseline for Matthew Stafford‘s negotiations with the Lions, at which time he would become the NFL’s salary champ. In 2018, both players would probably be leapfrogged by both Aaron Rodgers and Matt Ryan.
The only way for Cousins to get to the top of the mountain and stay there for a significant period of time will be for him to play out the year and hope that the Redskins do not apply the franchise tag on him yet again. If that were to happen, then Cousins could be looking at a contract averaging $30MM per year with even greater guarantees than the deal proposed by Corry.
Here’s more out of D.C.:
- If the Redskins were to offer Cousins the Derek Carr deal, he wouldn’t accept it, Mike Florio of PFT writes. Carr’s deal gives him $40MM fully guaranteed at signing versus the $23.94MM that Cousins is currently slated to get in 2017. However, Carr had to make a six-year commitment in order to secure that sum. That’s not a tradeoff that Cousins would be willing to make, particularly if rumblings about him being unhappy in Washington are true.
- The Redskins could carry as few as five true cornerbacks since safety Will Blackmon can play corner if needed, Rich Tandler of CSNMidAtlantic.com writes. Josh Norman, Bashaud Breeland, Kendall Fuller, Quinton Dunbar, and Fabian Moreau are the only real locks to make the 53-man roster while Josh Holsey and Dashaun Phillips could be left to fight for one roster spot. The odds improve for Holsey and Phillips if Moreau, a third-round pick, begins the season on the PUP list. Moreau is still rehabbing from pec surgery and is not slated to take the field until August.
- Former Redskins receiver Pierre Garcon isn’t sure why the Redskins have been unwilling to commit to Cousins so far (link via SiriusXM). “He’s been doing it for a long time,” Garcon said. “He is the guy that’s helped us make those playoff runs and do a lot of things great for us. I don’t know why he’s not the long-term answer there.” When asked about the possibility that Cousins could eventually find his way to San Francisco and reunite with Garcon, the veteran receiver demurred.
Redskins Notes: Free Agency, Cap
Will the Redskins be a 10-win team in 2017? There’s reason for optimism, but the free agent additions of nose tackle Stacy McGee and defensive end Terrell McClain won’t solve all of their problems on defense, Mike Jones of The Washington Post writes.
The Redskins could wind up with two rookie starters in the front seven between defensive end Jonathan Allen and outside linebacker Ryan Anderson. There’s also questions about how quickly Su’a Cravens will adjust to the strong safety position. Yes, the Redskins made some intriguing moves this offseason, but anyone automatically expecting the Redskins to make the playoffs should probably pump the breaks.
- The Redskins‘ 2018 cap situation is not as flexible as it seems at first glance, CSNMidAtlantic.com’s Rich Tandler writes. The Redskins have $54.7MM cap room in 2018, but they’ll only be rolling over $5MM when other teams have far more to push into ’18. The 49ers ($65MM), Browns ($50MM), Jaguars ($44MM), Titans ($41MM), and other teams will have far more to work with, meaning that the Redskins will actually be in the middle of the pack when it comes to cap space. There’s also this to consider – Washington has 21 players slated for unrestricted free agency. Of those 21, seven are projected starters and seven others will have key roles this season. That list includes quarterback Kirk Cousins.
Latest On Kirk Cousins Negotiations
The Redskins’ negotiating window with franchise-tagged quarterback Kirk Cousins is down to one week, but there have been no new developments in talks between the two sides, reports Mike Jones of the Washington Post. As such, Washington and Cousins would essentially need to “start from scratch” in order to reach a deal, according to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk.
The only positive news to come out talks between Cousins and the Redskins in recent weeks came from Adam Schefter of ESPN.com, who reported in late June that an “improved tone” had enveloped negotiations between the parties. However, a contract still doesn’t appear likely, which would mean Cousins would play out the 2017 campaign while earning a fully guaranteed $23.94MM base salary.
If Washington tags Cousins again in 2018, the 28-year-old signal-caller would be entitled to a 44% raise, meaning he’d be due a salary of roughly $35MM. That fact, combined with Raiders quarterback Derek Carr‘s new five-year, $125MM extension ($40MM guaranteed), means Cousins is likely looking for a deal that averages $25-28MM with $58MM in guarantees, per Jones.
“I hired my agent to do his job,” Cousins tells Stephanie Funkhouser of FOX 17. “I gotta go play football and throw touchdown passes and help our team win. I’ve got plenty to work on there so I’ll let my agent do his job. I’ll do mine and the good news is I’m under contract for this season and in a good place.”
Redskins Notes: Cousins, Sudfeld, McCoy
The latest on the Redskins:
- One potential factor in Kirk Cousins‘ long-term future with the Redskins will be the birth of his first child in September, ESPN.com’s John Keim writes. Both Cousins’ family and his wife’s are on the East Coast and that could help him lean towards remaining in Washington. That doesn’t mean he wouldn’t look to join up with another team like the Niners, but it could be a factor to keep him in D.C. if everything else is kosher between him and management and if a contract offer is to his liking. Still, the rumblings about Cousins being unhappy with the Redskins have only grown louder this summer. Keim still does not see the quarterback signing a new deal with the Redskins before the deadline later this month.
- Rich Tandler of CSNMidAtlantic.com is confident that the Redskins will carry three quarterbacks on the 53-man roster, meaning that Nate Sudfeld‘s job is safe. However, things may get interesting during the year if Cousins is not signed long term and the team is out of contention. In that scenario, the Redskins may want to get Sudfeld on the field to find out what they have in him. Colt McCoy, the team’s No. 2 QB, could also be a candidate to step into the starting role in 2018 if Cousins goes and he might not be thrilled about getting leapfrogged. McCoy is under contract with the team through ’18.
- More from Tandler, who looks way down the road to preview the Redskins’ defensive core in the 2020 season. He has first round defensive end Jonathan Allen listed as a “blue chip” player for Washington three years down the road, alongside cornerback Josh Norman. Although Allen slid down draft boards due to concerns about his shoulders, that’s an issue that could catch up with him in five or six years, not three years, Tandler reasons. Of course, it’s a difficult exercise to project any team’s defense three years in advance and a whole lot can change between now and then.
Tandler On Cousins, Redskins' Long-Term Outlook
- Rich Tandler of CSNWashington.com examines the long-term outlook for the Redskins, and it’s a fairly promising one, at least on offense. He looks at a possible snapshot of the offense going into training camp in the year 2020, and of the 11 players he mentions — most of whom are good, very good, or at least have a lot of upside — 10 of them are already starters. While it would be foolish to expect all of those players to be in Washington in 2020, the fact remains that the team does have a talented offensive core that has the potential to stay around for a long time.
- Tandler tweets that there is a slim chance the Redskins and QB Kirk Cousins can work out a multi-year deal by the July 17 deadline, but he confirms what we have known all along, which is that Cousins’ long-term future with the club probably won’t be settled until March 2018.
Opinion: Redskins In Make-Or-Break Situation With Kirk Cousins
- With the Redskins running out of time to extend quarterback Kirk Cousins by the July 17 deadline, the next week-plus could solidify or destroy their future, contends Jerry Brewer of the Washington Post. Locking up the franchise-tagged Cousins would be a sign of stability for the Redskins, argues Brewer, who criticizes the club for lowballing the signal-caller in past negotiations. Washington’s reluctance to buy into Cousins for the long haul has led it to franchise him in back-to-back offseasons, thereby costing the team around $44MM. The Redskins designating Cousins as their franchise player again next offseason probably isn’t going to happen, as doing so would come with a price tag upward of $34MM (the transition tag will come in at $28MM); as such, there’s a legitimate chance the productive Cousins will head elsewhere after 2017 and leave the Redskins searching for an answer under center again.
Dead Money Hurting Redskins
The Redskins are still feeling the effects of their free agency misses on the salary cap, CSNMidAtlantic.com’s Rich Tandler writes. Washington is carrying $9.8MM in dead money for players who are no longer with the team with most of the cash coming from four defenders signed as free agents in 2015 and 2016. Cornerback Chris Culliver ($2.5MM) and defensive lineman Stephen Paea ($2.5MM) lead the way in dead money cap hits. Culliver was supposed to be the Redskins’ No. 1 corner, but injuries limited him to just six games in 2015. Paea, meanwhile, lasted only one season and wound up as a cut late in the preseason last year. Money owed to David Bruton ($1.7MM) and Ricky Jean Francois ($1MM) also continues to linger on the Redskins’ cap.
This year, the Redskins gave significant multi-year deals to linebackers Stacy McGee and Terrell McClain and they’re hoping that both deals will pan out better than the aforementioned contracts. On the plus side, wide receiver Terrelle Pryor stands as their biggest free agent expenditure, and he is under contract for just one season. If the former Browns standout doesn’t pan out in D.C., he won’t be lingering on the cap beyond 2017.
- New Redskins senior vice president of personnel Doug Williams indicated that he will be on equal footing with coach Jay Gruden and team president Bruce Allen when it comes to roster decisions.
Redskins Notes: Moses, Williams, Cousins
New Redskins senior vice president of personnel Doug Williams indicated in a recent interview that he will be on equal footing with coach Jay Gruden when it comes to personnel decisions rather than having full authority. Still, Williams says he will not simply bend to the whim of Gruden, team president Bruce Allen, or anyone else in D.C.
“I’ve never been a ‘yes guy,’ ” Williams told Liz Clarke of The Washington Post. “Now, can I be someone who can talk things over and work it out? Yes. I know Jay well and Bruce well. And I know there are going to be times when we may not agree. That’s a good thing; that’s what scouting is all about.”
While we wait to see how the revamped front office structure pans out, here’s more on the Redskins:
- Tackle Morgan Moses, who signed a lucrative five-year, $40MM+ extension with the Redskins this offseason, is the team’s secret superstar, according to Sam Monson of Pro Football Focus. Per PFF’s stats, Moses had three perfect games of pass protection in 2016 and finished with the eighth-highest grade of any right tackle in the NFL last year. The 26-year-old now has the third-richest deal among RTs league-wide and it’s easy to understand why when examining the advanced metrics.
- The Redskins presently have nine inside linebackers on the roster and are likely to only keep four or five. With Will Compton, Zach Brown, and Mason Foster as locks to make the 53-man roster, Martrell Spaight, Chris Carter, and Zach Vigil find themselves on the bubble, Rich Tandler of CSNMidAtlantic.com writes. If Spaight, Carter, and Vigil are competing for one spot, then Spaight might have the inside track based on what he was able to do as a fill-in for Compton last season. Meanwhile, Pete Robertson, seventh-round pick Josh Harvey-Clemons, and Nico Marley appear to be longshots. Harvey-Clemons may need a year on the practice squad to get seasoning and Marley is lacking size at 5’8″.
- Kirk Cousins could make a difference for all NFL players by pushing for a deal with unprecedented guarantees, Sally Jenkins of The Washington Post. As we all know, NFL deals will often sound more impressive than they are due to paltry guarantees. Meanwhile, contracts for players in the NBA and MLB come fully guaranteed. Cousins is seeking to get maximum value on his new deal, but he would really move the needle for his brethren by getting a completely guaranteed pact, or something close to it. A long-term deal for the Redskins and the quarterback coming together this month is currently viewed as a longshot. There are also rumblings that Cousins is not happy with the organization in general, meaning that he might not be willing to sign an extension of any size with the team.
Redskins Notes: Jackson, Garcon, Cousins
The Redskins are down two big-name receivers in DeSean Jackson and Pierre Garcon, but they might actually be better off in the red zone, according to some numbers crunching by Raymond Summerlin of Rotoworld. Jackson and Garcon combined to catch just two touchdowns on 24 red zone targets in 2016 and that helps to explain why the Redskins had one of the worst TD rates in the red zone as a team. Meanwhile, newcomer Terrelle Pryor converted on 30.8% of his red zone looks last year, including 3-of-4 inside the 10-yard line. Josh Doctson is something of an unknown after injuries stripped away his rookie season, but he was drafted in part because of his ability to catch the football through traffic. The Redskins may have lost some star power at wide receiver, but they could have more chances to find paydirt with the revamped group.
Here’s more from D.C.:
- Does Kirk Cousins deserve to be the highest paid quarterback in the NFC East? While he doesn’t have the resume of Eli Manning or perhaps the same kind of upside as Dak Prescott and Carson Wentz, he has proven himself over the last two years and is right in his quarterback prime, Jordan Raanan of ESPN.com argues. Opinions on Cousins may vary, but I personally don’t think a $24MM salary is out of line for Cousins. The fact of the matter is that he would have garnered a monster multi-year deal with an even higher average annual salary this offseason if he were allowed to explore free agency unencumbered.
- With Robert Kelley, Samaje Perine, and Chris Thompson as locks to make the Redskins’ roster, running backs Mack Brown and Keith Marshall find themslves on the bubble, CSNMidAtlantic.com’s Rich Tandler writes. Brown has shown coaches that he has ability, but if the Redskins carry four tight ends, they could wind up keeping only three RBs. Meanwhile, Marshall is something of a longshot to make the 53-man roster if the other four stay healthy, but could wind up back on the practice squad. While Brown and Marshall fight for a spot, Matt Jones continues to sit in limbo.