Cousins will receive a one-year, $19.95 million deal after accepting the franchise tender – one heck of a pay raise for a guy who made $660,000 in base salary this past season.
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While this is going on, the Redskins and Cousins have until July 15 to work out a new contract. For his career, Cousins has appeared in 30 regular season games with 25 starts, completing 619-of-950 pass attempts for 7,196 yards with 47 touchdowns and 30 interceptions.
But the non-exclusive designation means the player is allowed to negotiate with other teams. ESPN’s Adam Schefter has reported the Redskins will use either the franchise or transition tag on Cousins, and Jones agrees that is the “most likely” outcome. It also pretty certain that Cousins would not get a significant offer sheet. After the huge leap Cousins took this season, even though he may not be “great”, there is a reasonable chance that he can show even more improvement in the coming years. Next year they would have to go through the process again – use the franchise tag, let Cousins explore free agency or sign a long-term deal. Clearly, the Broncos weren’t leaving any opening for him to get away.
Chicago Bears- Alshon Jeffery: The Chicago Bears have announced that they have placed the franchise tag on wide out Alshon Jeffery. Confident in his worth, potential and appeal to opposing teams, they had no interest in signing a multi-year deal at this time.
Prior to the 2015-16 season, Cousins had started just nine games but during the preseason, Cousins was named the starter over former first-round pick Robert Griffin III by head coach Jay Gruden. By accepting the franchise tag, Cousins will be guaranteed $19.9 million next season.
As recently as last week, people familiar with Cousins’s thinking said that the quarterback and his advisers didn’t see playing under the franchise tag as a bad thing.
If Cousins regresses in 2016, the team isn’t saddled with a cap-crippling contract. NOBODY knows better what a team looks like from the inside when it has limited salary cap space and a lack of first round picks than Kirk Cousins (there are some ties, but nobody knows better). Now, he’s headed elsewhere and Cousins, selected in the fourth round in 2012, will become one of the highest-paid QBs.
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CBS Sports NFL Insider Jason La Canfora confirmed Tuesday the Redskins’ plans to tag Cousins.
