I wish Kirk well.
In 2018 he will be going to a team that was 2-14 this season and is likely to be a 3 or 4 win club next year. So, he will be back to where he was here in 2013-2014.
He's going to make the money one way or another. Whether he ever is in a position to win anything is another question.
A lot of times with quarterbacks the correct LONG-TERM answer is to say 'NO'
So few players become true franchise quarterbacks for 8-10 years if they are not already that when they sign these big contracts.
Look at two deals that were signed - Flacco and Luck.
Those contracts have prevented Baltimore and Indianapolis from using free agency to help upgrade their rosters at critical spots in recent seasons.
In Flacco's case you can point to a Super Bowl win where he had a run similar to Mark Rypien in 1991 and say the Ravens are simply paying it back to a guy that brought home the championship.
But in Washington Cousins hasn't done anything but go 9-7 and lose in the playoffs by 20 plus points at home to the Packers.
If Cousins was 25 and in his third season with two 4,000 yard passing years behind him, it might be a different story.
But Cousins is 29 in 2017.
While quarterbacks do age better than most other positions in the NFL, there are FEW that emerge as elite performers at or near 30 in recent history.
You can go back into the pre-free agency or early free agency years and point to a guy like Rich Gannon or going way back to a guy like Jim Plunkett that blew up after 30 and took teams to the Super Bowl.
But the irony is that both of those players were acquired for minimum or no compensation from their former clubs.
The one rule with quarterbacks is you pay true franchise players.
Kirk by almost everyone's account, media - fellow players - GMs agree that he is not at that level.
His skills in fact may have already hit a plateau.
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