Grant Paulsen of CBS Sports Radio affiliate 106.7 The Fan in D.C. first reported Tuesday afternoon the Redskins will be using the non-exclusive franchise tag on Cousins to retain him for 2016. He’ll probably be looking to make at least the $4.3 million a season Stephen Gostkowski is making with the Patriots.
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Miami decided against placing the franchise tag on Vernon, and this year’s transition number calls for defensive ends to receive $12.734 million.
Teams have until 4 p.m. Tuesday to use the franchise or transition tag on a scheduled free agent.
The franchise tag for a quarterback in 2016 is $19.953 million.
As of Monday morning, Redskins officials hadn’t given up hope that the two sides could reach a pact on a multi-year deal, which in turn would give Washington greater financial flexibility under the salary cap, and Cousins long-term stability. He was rightfully named the MVP in Denver’s 24-10 Super Bowl win over the Panthers.
Both the non-exclusive franchise tag and the transition tag allow teams to match any offer made to a tagged player, but if a franchised player is allowed to take a deal from another team without it being matched, the original team is owed two first-round picks.
Los Angeles owns the No. 15 pick in the upcoming draft where it’s unlikely one of the top quarterback prospects will still be available.
As the season wore on and the Redskins needed the best out of Cousins, he responded.
Griffin did not play at all this season and was in uniform once – and that was only because Washington didn’t have enough healthy bodies at other positions to fill out a game-day active roster.
However, according people with knowledge of the talks, nothing has changed regarding the stance in Cousins’ camp.
In his five seasons with the Broncos, the second overall pick in the 2011 National Football League draft has totaled 60 sacks and 17 forced fumbles in 72 regular-season games. Now Los Angeles tried to re-sign its other young starting cornerback, Janoris Jenkins.
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Trumaine Johnson, Los Angeles ($13.952 million) – Hardly in Norman’s class as a cover man, Johnson still is a playmaker and had seven interceptions last season. Keeping him makes re-signing running back Lamar Miller more hard. He would be due $16.2m next season if he was re-signed, money the club simply will not want to allocate given Cousins’ hefty salary.
