Skins Franchise Kirk Cousins

For Immediate Release
February 28, 2017

REDSKINS PLACE FRANCHISE TAG ON KIRK COUSINS

LOUDOUN COUNTY, Va. – The Washington Redskins announced today that they have placed the exclusive franchise tag on quarterback Kirk Cousins.

Last season, Cousins completed 406-of-606 passes (67.0 percent) for 4,917 yards with 25 touchdowns and 12 interceptions for a passer rating of 97.2. He finished the year with single-season team records in attempts, completions and passing yards and matched his team record for 300-yard passing games (seven).

Cousins is entering his sixth NFL season after originally being selected by the Redskins in the fourth round (102nd overall) of the 2012 NFL Draft. For his career, Cousins has appeared in 46 regular season games with 41 starts, completing 1,025-of-1,556 pass attempts for 12,113 yards with 72 touchdowns and 42 interceptions.

Cousins, 28, played collegiately at Michigan State from 2007-11, where he was a three-time team captain and earned Academic All-Big Ten Conference honors all four seasons in which he played. Cousins was born on Aug. 19, 1988, and attended Holland Christian H.S. in Holland, Mich.



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Not a surprise. They have till July 15 to work out a deal and drop the tag. If he plays under the tag this year a tag next year is out of the question. He'd be up to about $35M for a third year tag.

I think some of the talking heads have it exactly wrong (if guys like Bomani Jones even warrant that much credit). They'd have us believe that the Redskins have no idea what to do and out of desperation just locked Cousins up for his final season. I actually think this move sends the opposite signal. It says 'we want you' and so much so that they don't even want other teams talking to Cousins. I think they have every intent of hammering out a deal before July to keep Cousins in B&G for the long haul.

Of course, I've been wrong before

Let's assume for a minute no long term deal is in the works. They want him to "prove" himself before committing. I can see that only because he had such lofty stats. Does anyone here think he has another or more "career" years in him. How can he improve on the lofty numbers. They know he probably won't and then they have more leverage in negotiations next year.

Is a .500 QB worth $24mil? Does this mean bye bye to #88 & #11?

I would keep him under the tag just so we don't have to use a draft pick on a QB. Until we get a studley D line to negate the Cows run game, we won't be going anywhere. I think that's where this team is at.

I doubt that's the mindset - first of all because despite faltering at the end, Cousins production this year equalled the previous year's. I imagine they are fairly confident in what they have in him under center and where his ceiling is. I also believe they know that if they don't get a deal done prior to the July deadline, they'll never get one done. Cousins has a lot of pride - and that's not necessarily a bad thing - but there's no way he responds well to yet another 'show me' year. In his mind (and for what it's worth, in mine), he's already done that. Has he won a Super Bowl? Nope. But he's shown he's a top tier QB who with the right surrounding cast is capable of getting us there.

Just my sense of it.

And reportedly, Cousins agent said after the tag announced said that Kirk likes playing for the Redskins, that they aren't talking 'trade' right now, that they have been negotiating 'off and on' with the Redskins and that he plans on sitting down with Eric Shaffer next week to talk more. Said that the $24 million/year price tag this year 'sets the market'. That sounds a far sight different than the BS the DC media experts are spouting.

Agree Boone. This is all negotiations. Waiting to get serious until after being tagged is the absolute right financial decision by Kirks team. I don't even care what the numbers are. They have huge cap room this year, and it's going up significantly after this year. Whatever they sign him to will not impact the team. Only affect will be to send money watching fans up a wall.

The media knows jack squat about the goings on at Redskins Park.

I'll say this for Bruce and Scot: They're good plumbers....because there's no more leaks like there were with Vinny.

You read Twitter and guys like Chris Russell just make you sick with their constant flinging poo against the wall,hoping something sticks....every,single day.

I don't see money as an issue. They're willing to pay him $45M for two years (last years tag plus this years) and I'm sure $100M for 4 years is OK for the Redskins because there's no cap benefit by tagging him and they could spread that hit around with a contract. More than likely it is terms such as length of contract and guaranteed money. Washington wants something they can walk away from with minimal collateral damage and Kirk wants some security. These things tend to be worked out as long as both sides are willing to negotiate in good faith and I don't see any animosity here.