NFC East Notes: Cousins, Redskins, JPP
If given a choice, which NFC East quarterback would you want leading your team for the next three years? Todd Archer, Jordan Raanan, and John Keim of ESPN.com all agree that Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins is the guy to have. That answer may come as a surprise to some people since the division also features two-time Super Bowl champ Eli Manning and rising stars Dak Prescott and Carson Wentz. However, the consensus here is that Cousins is the most reliable of the quartet since he has proven himself over the last two years. More needs to be seen from Prescott and Wentz, the writers argue, and it’s hard to bet on Manning given his age and the down year he had in 2016.
Here is more from the NFC East:
- Giants defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul has come a long way in the last two years, Mike Florio of PFT writes. On this day in 2015, JPP’s unfortunate fireworks mishap shook the football world on an otherwise quiet holiday weekend. Pierre-Paul was already scheduled to play out the season on the franchise tag but lost millions that year after being sidelined for multiple games. Against all odds, JPP still looked good on the field despite the condition of his hand and he parlayed a strong 2016 into a four-year, $62MM deal this past offseason. Some fans laughed at the notion that Pierre-Paul could recover from such a devastating injury, but he was arguably better than ever in 2016.
- The Redskins have to offer Cousins around $75MM to $80MM in total guaranteed money if they hope to lock him up on an extension this month, Mike Jones of The Washington Post writes. The deal would also have to have an average annual salary of between $25MM and $27MM, but the numbers don’t mean much if Cousins doesn’t actually want to be in D.C.. A recent report indicated that Cousins still has serious reservations about staying with the Redskins long term.
- Over the weekend, Redskins running back Matt Jones made a change in representation.
Jones Skipped OTAs At Agent's Urging
- News emerged about Matt Jones changing agents Sunday. Drew Rosenhaus now represents the Redskins running back. Previous agent Hadley Engelhard lobbied the Redskins to trade or release him, and Jones did not show for Washington’s OTA sessions. He skipped the workouts on the advice of Engelhard, according to Liz Clarke of the Washington Post, who wonders if the agent switch will have an impact on Jones’ standing with the Redskins. Washington deactivated Jones midseason after persistent fumbling trouble and added Oklahoma’s Samaje Perine in the fourth round. Jones did report to minicamp, but his status in Washington’s backfield hierarchy is murky.
Matt Jones Hires Drew Rosenhaus
Redskins RB Matt Jones, whose agent, Hadley Engelhard, asked Washington to release his client last month, has changed agents. Jones will now be represented by one of the biggest names in the sports world, Drew Rosenhaus, according to Rosenhaus himself (via Twitter).
Jones, of course, is not a part of the Redskins’ plans for 2017, so it made sense for Engelhard to approach the team about cutting him. It is unclear what — other than Rosenhaus’ name value and Engelhard’s inability to convince Washington to release Jones — might have triggered Jones’ decision, but now it will be Rosenhaus’ job to secure a change of scenery for his newest client.
Jones was once the Redskins’ starting back, but he has been bypassed by Robert Kelley. This year, Oklahoma product Samaje Perine figures to see a good percentage of the carries and Chris Thompson will return as the team’s pass-catching specialist out of the backfield. That leaves little-to-no room for the talented but fumble-prone Jones.
Washington also tried to trade Jones in the spring but did not find much of a market for his services. The 2015 third-round pick is still under club control on his rookie deal through 2018.
Houston Bates, Lynden Trail Could Make Redskins
- Houston Bates and Lynden Trail have a chance of making the Redskins‘ roster thanks to Trent Murphy‘s four-game suspension, Rich Tandler of CSN Mid-Atlantic writes. Last year, Bates served as the team’s No. 4 outside linebacker before a torn ACL ended his season in Week 14. Trail, meanwhile, has great size at 6’7″, 270 pounds, but he’s still raw after two practice squad seasons. Still, the suspension cracks the door open for both players to make the 53-man cut.
Redskins Notes: Cousins, Hall, McCoy
Redskins senior vice president of player personnel Doug Williams recently said that Kirk Cousins has proven that he’s among the league’s 15 best quarterbacks. Williams is selling Cousins short, Seth Walder of ESPN.com argues, and the Redskins will have to give him better than “above average” compensation to keep him.
The Cousins-led offense recorded the second-most passing yards in 2016 while throwing for the third-most yards per attempt (8.1) among quarterbacks. Cousins ranked in the top six of Football Outsiders’ DVOA in the last two years and he finished No. 8 and No. 4, respectively, in Pro Football Reference’s adjusted net yards per attempt in ’15 and ’16. He’s also performed better than Raiders QB Derek Carr who just inked a five-year, $125MM deal. Cousins ranked fourth in Total QBR over 2015-2016 while Carr finished 26th.
Here’s more from D.C.:
- Redskins safety DeAngelo Hall turns 34 in November but it’s not a certainty that he’ll be with the team when that happens, Rich Tandler of CSNWashington.com writes. Hall, a 14-year veteran, seems more likely to make the roster after accepting a pay cut earlier this summer, but it’s not a slam dunk since the team has younger and cheaper players that can be plugged into the secondary. Ultimately, I think Hall’s experience will keep him on the roster as a backup safety, especially with his reasonable $2.3MM base salary.
- Within the same piece, Tandler also implies that backup quarterback Colt McCoy could actually step up to replace Cousins as the Redskins‘ starter next year if Cousins is no longer in the picture. McCoy, 31 in September, stepped in for Cousins’ as the starting QB in 2014 and had some strong performances. Of course, in 2015, Cousins emerged as the Redskins’ clear cut starter and he has not given McCoy an opening in the last two seasons. It’s too early to speculate about Washington’s plans for 2018 if Cousins is not retained, but it sounds like they might not have to turn to free agency or the draft to find a fill-in if Cousins is out of the picture.
NFC East Notes: Redskins, Pryor, Eagles
Will free agent addition Terrelle Pryor wind up being the Redskins‘ leading receiver in 2017? JP Finlay and Rich Tandler of CSN Mid-Atlantic put the question up for debate. Pryor’s 55% catch rate last year wasn’t great, but Finlay argues that he couldn’t have done much better given the quarterbacks he had throwing to him. If Pryor was able to haul in 77 receptions for 1,007 yards with a rotating cast of unimpressive QBs, then he could put up even bigger numbers with Kirk Cousins throwing to him. On the flipside, Tandler notes that wide receiver Jamison Crowder and tight end Jordan Reed both figure to be targeted more than Pryor, giving the Ohio State product long odds of being the team’s top pass catcher.
Here’s more out of the NFC East:
- Eagles running back LeGarrette Blount can earn $50K if he weighs in between 240-245 pounds on the team’s reporting date for training camp, Field Yates of ESPN.com tweets. Blount’s one-year deal calls for $1.25MM in base pay, but he can earn a total of $2.8MM through incentives, including the summer weigh-in. Blount is coming off one of his best seasons, having achieved career highs in carries (299), yards (1,161), and touchdowns (an NFL-leading 18).
- If a deal does not get done between the Redskins and Kirk Cousins, don’t be shocked if Washington leaks the last offer rejected by the quarterback, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk writes. It’s likely that the final offer will sound impressive in comparison to what Cousins has accomplished so far on the field, so the Redskins can win some fan sympathy by giving a selective peek behind the curtain. An extension is currently viewed as a longshot and Cousins might be fundamentally unhappy with the team.
- Could the Giants consider free agent cornerback Darrelle Revis? It would make for an excellent story, but James Kratch of NJ.com writes that it doesn’t make sense for the G-Men financially. Revis can collect his $6MM salary from the Jets by sitting on the couch and some have speculated that he would want $8MM from a team in order to actually play this year. Not only is that an unreasonable asking price for Revis at this stage of his career, but the Giants couldn’t fit that salary under the cap even if they wanted to make it happen.
- Alterraun Verner, on the other hand, would be a more realistic option for the Giants, Kratch writes. Verner was apparently out of shape when he auditioned for the Jaguars in May, but he’d be an interesting slot option if he is now ready to play football. The Giants have a great slot corner in Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, but they don’t have a Plan B in the event of an injury.
NFC East Rumors: Cousins, Redskins, Cowboys
More bad news on the Kirk Cousins front. Dianna Russini of ESPN.com (Twitter links) hears that there isn’t a real price that will make the Redskins quarterback happy. The two sides, she adds, are at a point where they need each other but don’t want each other.
This comes on the heels of an Adam Schefter report indicating that a deal between now and mid-July is unlikely. Although there is an improved tone in talks, there apparently hasn’t been much in the way of forward progress. But, if Cousins is truly unhappy with the Redskins, then the problem is much more serious than just a disagreement over money.
Here’s more from the NFC East:
- After converting to defense in 2016, quarterback Jameill Showers is working to make the Cowboys‘ roster as a safety. He faces competition from players with more experience in the secondary, but so far the early reviews for him are positive. “I’m really happy with what Showers has done,” Cowboys secondary coach Joe Baker told Charean Williams of Pro Football Talk. “He’s turned his body from a quarterback body into a defensive back body, which looks a lot different. You can tell he looks slimmer. He’s moving a lot better. The whole athleticism part of it is so much different at that position, and so I’m really proud of how he’s worked. He’s still got a ways to go, but movement-wise in terms of his backpedaling, changing direction, all those things we do as defensive backs, he’s really doing a nice job.”
- The Cowboys worked out wide receiver Marquez North on Monday, according to a source who spoke with Aaron Wilson of The Houston Chronicle (on Twitter).
Latest On Redskins, Kirk Cousins
A long-term deal for Kirk Cousins and the Redskins is still viewed as a long shot, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. There has been an “improved tone” between the two sides, Schefter writes, but there apparently hasn’t been much progress. 
[RELATED: Brian Quick Must Impress In Camp To Make Redskins]
It would cost the Redskins more than $34MM to use the franchise tag on Cousins for a third time in 2018, so there’s definitely incentive for them to get a long-term deal done. At the same time, Cousins is very comfortable with betting on himself, so he is not sweating things out. It is believed that the quarterback will push for $50-60MM in guaranteed money to get an extension done, a sum that roughly represents the money he would earn through franchise tags in 2017 and 2018. Even the less costly transition tag in 2018 ($28MM) would still give Cousins a projected $52MM over the next two years, so that $50-60MM ask makes plenty of sense.
Recently, the NFL pushed back the deadline for teams to sign franchise players to long term deals, so the to sides will have until July 17 to hammer out a new pact. Typically, the franchise deadline is on July 15, but the NFL bumped up the date since it falls on a Saturday this year.
Latest On Kirk Cousins
- Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins isn’t going to sign a long-term deal worth less than $52MM over the first two years, contends JP Finlay of CSNMidAtlantic.com. That figure represents the combined totals of the $24MM franchise tag for 2017, which Cousins is slated to play under, and the $28MM transition tag for next year. Even that might not be enough for the Redskins to lock up Cousins by the July 17 deadline, observes Finlay, who’s not particularly optimistic that a deal will come together.
Brian Quick Must Impress In Camp To Make Redskins
- Late-March free agent signing Brian Quick won’t be long for the Redskins’ roster if he doesn’t impress in training camp, writes Rich Tandler of CSNMidAtlantic.com. Quick didn’t perform well during offseason practices, and the team has a few locks at wide receiver, leaving the 28-year-old on the bubble as camp nears, per Tandler. The 2012 second-round pick spent his first five years as a member of the Rams, with whom he exceeded the 20-catch plateau only twice. To his credit, though, Quick posted a career year in 2016, hauling in personal highs in catches (41), targets (77), yards (564) and touchdowns (three).