1 of 3 | Washington Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins. Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI |
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The Washington Redskins are determined to build a playoff contender with quarterback Kirk Cousins at the helm, the question this offseason is how much it is going to cost the team to keep the pending free agent in the fold.
General manager Scot McCloughan said the team has "a lot of options," including using the franchise tag on Cousins. While that would give the sides until July to figure out a multi-year deal, it would also come with a potential one-year price tag of around $19 million if a long-term contract was not worked out.
"Well it's an option, of course you'd rather not, you'd rather get a long term deal done," McCloughan said at the Senior Bowl on Wednesday. "But we have a lot of options we're dealing with right now and that's one of them."
Cousins led the Redskins to the NFC East title while starting all 16 games in 2015, completing 69.8 percent of his passes for 4,166 yards and 29 touchdowns against 11 interceptions. It was significant progress considering Cousins entered the season with an 18-19 touchdown-to-interception ratio while starting nine of 14 games through his first three NFL seasons.
"I saw improvement as the season went on," McCloughan said of Cousins. "From the standpoint of going forward, of course you'd like to have him around. Philosophy with me and the organization is we won't talk contract stuff with the media, but I want him to be part of the Redskins."
With Cousins grabbing hold of the quarterback job, former No. 2 overall pick Robert Griffin III appears almost certain to play elsewhere next season after not taking a single snap in 2015. The Redskins still hold his rights, and must release him before the beginning of the league year on March 9 to avoid being on the hook for his $16.5 million base salary for 2016.
With Griffin III almost impossible to trade due to his contract, he's expected to be released, but McCloughan wasn't committing to anything until he runs through all of the team's personnel with the front office and coaching staff.
"Certainly, the thing that's good about what we have right now is that we have until March 9th, and that's why I want to sit down with the coaches," McCloughan said. "Not just the coordinators, the position coach, but everybody individually and just get a feel for it. He is a good football player, he's a really good person, and he's under contract. That's where we're at right now."
