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A Burgundy and Gold Obsession - The Calm Down Bus

Boone

The Commissioner
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Well, after a few days to absorb the reality that we have the 'Rent-A-Starter’ plan in full effect at QB, one that could extend even into the 2018 season, I have decided to take a deep breath. Reading takes from less emotional rational types like Bulldog, Om, and Miles Monroe – I recognize that this is and likely will continue to be par for the course for our Redskins and that getting one’s panties in a wad is of no tangible benefit.

With any controversy, it is human nature to put a stake in the ground on one extreme corner of the debate or the other. But in most cases, this is a mistake – since inevitably the 'truth’ of any given situation is likely to be elusive and 'facts’ highly malleable dependent on which side of the argument one happens to be on.

I have mixed feelings about the team’s management of Kirk Cousins future as the Redskins franchise QB. On the one hand I recognize that the seeming unwillingness of an embattled Redskins Front Office to break the bank just for the sake of locking up an (to date) above average starting QB may in fact represent progress, not bungling dysfunction. By the same token, it has been the team’s indecisiveness that has undoubtedly gotten us to where we are. Instead of committing to and showing tangible belief in Cousins when he was affordable, they’ve strung this along. The team could’ve put this entire thing to rest more than a year ago by offering Cousins a lucrative LTD he couldn’t refuse. A 'lucrative’ deal then would be in 'bargain’ territory today. That almost indisputable fact alone should subject the Front Office to considerable doubt and criticism. But Bruce Allen and company didn’t do that. Perhaps the team suffers from a lingering hangover post-RG3 debacle. Burn me once, shame on you and so on. It would be understandable. But the team’s seeming condescension and anti-media tone lend one to believe their reticence to 'just pay the man’ is driven by other things, like ego, stubbornness, and a general belief by this Front Office that they are always smarter and savvier than everyone else in the room.

The most generous assessment is that the Redskins strategy to date has driven Cousin’s price tag exponentially and unnecessarily higher (perhaps prohibitively so). A less forgiving assessment is that their approach has created downright ill will with the young man, reinforcing his belief that the team undervalues and underappreciates him. Cousins is not nearly a diva of RG3 magnitude. But they do share one quality – the need to be loved, praised, and recognized. On this front, the Redskins appear to have failed. At the very least, I think the team has shown an utter inability to effectively express what their strategy to solidify the QB position is and to be able to manage the media view of these negotiations. If the DC and national sports media machine are sharks looking for blood, Snyder and Allen have spent most of their time chumming the Potomac when it comes to effective media and PR communication.

Where I struggle to jump on the 'calm down bus’ with the more steady amongst us, is embracing the idea that the Redskins will just find and plug-in a suitably competent successor if we are unable to bridge the divide and sign Cousins long-term. We got lucky with Cousins. Blind squirrel – meet acorn. We have a 20 year history of being unable to find a talented long-term starter under center. Bulldog and others will redirect me – the current regime has drafted well. It will be different this time. Will it though? Do we know that the current regime can identify, obtain, and keep talent? They did it with Scot McCloughan on board – but I don’t think we know whether they current leadership can do it – certainly not at the most critical and elusive position of them all. Put me on the 'show me wagon’ with Henry on that topic.

As for Cousins – he’s damaged his credibility with me. I’m sure he’ll lose sleep over that :) I understand looking out for your family and its financial security first. That’s the way it is and should be for all of us. In answer to those fans who ask why Cousins should work out a deal that pays him less than the best possible offer – I say this. Loyalty matters. Gratitude matters. Teammates and fans matter. And Cousins has been the beneficiary of opportunity, support, financial security, and commitment almost every step of the way since being named starter. Sure, the team has 'low-balled’ him to date. They haven’t done what needed to be done to show the man ultimate love. But this is the team that gave Kirk Cousins his opportunity. They ran a star they spent a fortune to get out of town to give him his opportunity. And they’ve already made him one of the richest players in the NFL.

Where’s the loyalty, gratitude, and commitment from Kirk Cousins? Is money the only thing that matters? Leaving for the biggest payday will hurt this team, hurt the fans who have supported him, and hurt his teammates. Where’s the focus on those things from Cousins? Of course, Cousins swears he wants to be a Redskin and will negotiate. So far, the facts belie those assurances. If it turns out he means what he says, I’ll get down on my knees and apologize I ever beat on the guy. But right now, he strikes me as insincere and self-focused. I hope he proves me wrong.

But it’s time to move on. He’s our QB in 2017. He may still be our QB in 2018. Being nothing but a lowly and powerless fan, I have no choice but to root for my team, pray to the football Gods that they not throw me back down into the abyss, and hope it inexplicably somehow all works out.

You know. Because I’m a fan of the Washington Redskins. And it's what we do.
 
Nice job, my friend.

Only thing I feel compelled to bring up, is this line that so many use.....

"Instead of committing to and showing tangible belief in Cousins when he was affordable, they’ve strung this along."

The thing is, when he was affordable, his projections were not predictable. Regardless of what the lucky guessers will say.
He had a half a good season, with good stats, against losing teams, and never beat a winner.
Only hindsight makes it seem like the no brainer mistake that all the "told you so's" keep barking out.

That said, just like everybody else here, I wish nothing but success for our Washington Redskins.

All, of our Washington Redskins
 
I think after a full season of pretty impressive performance in 2015, during which he set a number of Redskins passing records, and helped us earn a home playoff berth, it was clear he was a capable long-term starter, and that it was reasonable to expect (given his still limited # of starts) that he hadn't reached his ceiling yet. That was the moment where this Front Office made a huge miscalculation imho.
 
I feel for Kirk in the sense that when he came in with Robert, the city rolled out the red carpet for Robert, the team rolled it out, he was making commercials before his first pass, it was all about Robert and Kirk was a forgotten man. Robert turned into a fiasco, and Kirk won the starting job. I think he feels like "I told you so" and wants to prove it with the biggest contract to right a "wrong", according to Kirk.

Team management, on the other hand, were burned by Robert ,and understandably hesitant to deal out another big deal to Kirk, knowing that he has come up short on the field.

Its a tough deal, but I think now that this is the heart of the dilemma and has reached the stalemate that it is. We as fans want to read more into it and over analyze it. But maybe its just that simple of a problem to understand, just there is no simple remedy.
 
Nice post micks...I agree, sometimes things are a lot simpler than we may think.
 
Calm down people!!!
 
From my perspective the FO has bungled this totally. We all know they "should" have signed him to the team friendly offer Cousins side made last year, they didn't. They basically said hey, you were a 4th round pick and had one good year. We (the the FO) need to see more and only have so much money. Then what happens next? Another 4th round player who only had 1 good year becomes an unexpected FA. Fire up Redskin 1 take him to Snyder's house and they wine and dine him and tell him he's not leaving 'till he signs a contract. You think Cousins noticed that love for Norman as they made him the highest paid corner in the league. Norman is good, but was not all pro.

This after he watched RG3 get special treatment from the FO, use of Snyder's yacht for his honeymoon and other Bennies not offered to him. Cousins has been consistent all along in saying he wants to play were he is wanted. He has witnessed what the FO has done to folks they want. None of that love has been shown to him to date. He even stated again on the radio this week that there was no amount of money they could have shown offered him this year. I believe him when he said it.

There is a chance the team can fix it 6 months from now. The day the team is allowed to negotiate with him after the season, show up at his doorstep with a stretch limo and a police escort take him, his agent and his family to the airport, put them on a fully stocked Redskin 1 to a remote luxurious private Island in the Bahama's or Atlantic where Snyder and Allen meet him, tell him they love him and want to make them the teams starter for his football career. Also tell him that they will NOT franchise him this year or ever again, and in the most friendliest of ways tell him no-one is leaving the island until a deal is done, then try in earnest to get a fair deal done.

I think if they did this, they have a shot at getting a LTD done. If they don't they at least showed me they actually tried in earnest to do so, better late then never.

The above represents what I would "like" to see happen, not what I think "will" happen. More likely that the FO, will triple down on their stupidity and instead not do the above but instead just place the transition tag on him to show to the fans not paying attention to what is going on that they want him. Then when he signs with another team for a price the Redskins can't or won't match, they will say they tried and Cousins was just too greedy, and the dysfunction will continue.
 

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