Kirk Cousins Development Tracker

[Om]

Fortunately, we have one of the NFL's most respected talent evaluators, one of its most respected capologists, and an owner willing to write checks if the first two decide it's the right call in this instance. If they end up letting him play out the tag year, it will either be because 1) they aren't convinced yet either, or 2) Kirk and his agent simply want more than what the team is willing to pay.

Personally I'm maybe 70% convinced the Cousins we saw down the stretch last year was not a mirage, and that he's going to be a legit NFL starter, maybe a very good one, for a long time. But the 30% wiggle/doubt room is real enough I'm glad the front office we now have is taking every opportunity to watch every throw, on-field decision, comment, study session, workout, etc., that they can before they have to pull the trigger on 2016.

 

[Om]

Ooh, the added-emphasis game!

I'll get into his yards per attempt in a minute, but it's hard to get a great feel for his downfield mindset because we haven't seen him work with DeSean Jackson and Josh Doctson on the field together this spring. So it's hard to say what's really changed in that regard. I will say, Cousins threw decisively and with confidence when we watched Wednesday (the defense has definitely had days where they've stopped him, too).

The assumption by many was that Cousins’ yards per attempt in 2015 ranked in the bottom third of the league. The opposite is true; Cousins’ yards per pass attempt of 7.67 actually ranked eighth in the NFL, just behind Cam Newton and ahead of Tom Brady, per ESPN Stats & Information.

In the last half of the season, Cousins ranked first in the NFL at 9.41 yards per pass attempt. By contrast, in the first eight games Cousins ranked 31st in yards per attempt. One big difference: Jackson’s presence. He played two series in the first eight games, but when healthy, the Redskins’ passing emphasis changed. They actually had someone who could win downfield all the time and if it didn’t result in a big play to him, it opened lanes underneath after the catch for others.

 

[Elephant]

That may be okay for Cincy, but historically, the running game rules in the NFCE.

While most of us grew up with and would like to see a strong run game, today's NFL is a whole new ball game. Pass game is beginning to be used for the same purpose the run game was, run opens up pass, well today pass opens up run so don't discount the value of that pass game. It won us the division, weak at it was, we still came out on top.

On the positive side, I'd again point to the DJax article. The guy is productive on the field and a mature leader off of it. A huge plus for the organization...and, for Kirk, too.

Our visions of leadership must really be different. Leaders tend to be the first to show up to practice, take part in off-season programming, come into season in shape ready to go, work closely in communities affairs. Jackson comes to town when he must, leaves as soon as he can. That's not leadership.

 

[Om]

My emphasis was to refute the point that ALL reports out of the OTAs were Kirk-positive.

As for your quotes, it demonstrates how valuable DJax is to this team. When he plays, Kirk looks pretty good.

The defense having a good day doesn't automatically mean Kirk had a bad one. Sometimes defenses win too. Plus, the days Keim was referring to were without DJax or Doctson ... who knows what kind of effect that had on the coaches' intent for those drills, or what decisions Kirk made with the ball?

Also, the turnaround in the second half was about more than just adding DJax. It was also about a change in philosophy, as both Keim and this fun watch also reminds us (the exchange with McVay at around 2:15 was about as telling an insider insight as we were privileged to get all year):

 

[Elephant]

Yeah, I still hate this guy for taking a year off...

View attachment 3179

He wasn't a team leader, either.

 

[Boone]

That's actually not a bad analogy - except Desean, unlike Riggo never seems to show up big in the biggest moments.


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[DieselPwr44]

Oh he shows up in big moments all right...

 

[Goaldeje]

Are we really knocking DeSean? I don't have E as negative view about Kirk as Tr1 does but I don't think it was a coincidence that Kirk's play took off when DeSean came back.

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[Boone]

The context of the Desean comments was tr1 comparing him to Riggins. And he's no Riggins - he's a dangerous deep threat and I'm glad to have him. But he has a penchant for dumb plays in big moments and has rarely had big moments when it really counted, not to mention the questionable toughness.


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[Elephant]

The context of the Desean comments was tr1 comparing him to Riggins. And he's no Riggins - he's a dangerous deep threat and I'm glad to have him. But he has a penchant for dumb plays in big moments and has rarely had big moments when it really counted, not to mention the questionable toughness.


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...and lack of leadership.

 

[Boone]

Jordan Reed was the MVP this past season - not even close.


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[Henry]

FYI, Jackson was not brought in by the current GM.

 

[Om]

I'll say it again ... reducing Kirk and the passing game's taking off last year to "well, DJax came back" is far too simplistic. There was a clear change in philosophy as well.

 

[Om]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...pecial-redskins-veteran-says-of-kirk-cousins/

'He’s just special,’ Redskins veteran says of Kirk Cousins

It would be hard to find a negative report about Kirk Cousins this spring. Coaches have been effusive; “He’s taken command of the offense,” offensive coordinator Sean McVay said. “He’s truly become an extension of our coaching staff.” Media reports have been positive; at least three local beat reporters, including our own Mike Jones, described Cousins’s performance at last week’s open workout as “sharp.” And teammates? Here’s DeAngelo Hall, when asked about Cousins by Jim Rome.

“I mean, he’s just special,” Hall said. “He’s special, Jim.”

This came at the end of a much longer answer in which Hall praised Cousins for his improvement, his work ethic and his decision-making. This isn’t modest praise.

“Just tremendous growth from him,” Hall said of Cousins. “You know, I was a little bit nervous when we made him starter [in 2015], because Kirk had a little bit of a turnover problem the year before. He kind of had that Brett Favre complex, where he wanted to make so many good throws that sometimes it put him in bad situations. So last year, we really didn’t know what to expect.

“And just to watch him grow and mature through the course of the season and just really own that position and own the locker room and that offense, I mean, it was amazing to watch,” Hall went on. “You know, we saw this guy come in as a fourth-round pick and another guy in his draft is the number two guy, kind of put on a pedestal. And just to watch Kirk keep working, keep working, and progress to the point at he’s at now … I have nothing but the utmost confidence and trust and faith in him that’s he going to go out and there and get the job done.”

“He’s done a great job this offseason of really mastering the playbook,” Hall said. “I’m out there playing safety, he’s playing quarterback. He’s making checks, I’m making checks. We’re trying to play chess with each other, and Kirk somehow seems to always get his offense in the right position.”

Hall, of course, isn’t the only veteran bursting with happy quotes about his quarterback..."

 

[McD5]

The last thing I'm concerned about is a QB that threw for over 4,100 yards last season.

We haven't had a 4k yard passer since Brad Johnson. I'm going to take a wild guess that Snyder has learned something about the QB position over the last 15 years.

If we can get him for $19 mill or less, then sign him. If not, then let him play and hope we are paying him $22 million next year.

 

[TomE]

I'll say it again ... reducing Kirk and the passing game's taking off last year to "well, DJax came back" is far too simplistic. There was a clear change in philosophy as well.

................

 

[Henry]

Honestly, I think I'm closer to tr1's view of Cousins than not. He had a solid season against an easy schedule, and it's not out of the realm of possibility he won't ever duplicate that success.

That said, I don't know that I blame the front office for the way they've handled things since. I understand they are working on a long term deal, but I'll wait to see it before I declare it a bad move. Reed's contract extension was, in my opinion, very well done, very team friendly, and he had a similar break-out performance last season. If Cousins gets an extension and it's similar to Reed's in terms of structure, the team should survive (cap-wise) in the event Cousins crashes and burns.

Outside of trading all our picks away for Wentz I'm not sure how we could better address the QB situation.

 

[Om]

"Outside of trading all our picks away for Wentz I'm not sure how we could better address the QB situation."

You're saying that would have been preferable to how the team has handled Kirk?

 

[TomE]

"Outside of trading all our picks away for Wentz I'm not sure how we could better address the QB situation."

You're saying that would have been preferable to how the team has handled Kirk?

I think the presumption was if we lost Kirk in a bidding war during FA and were left with no QB under contract at all then we'd have to make a 'drastic' move to fill the spot with someone viable.

 

[Henry]

"Outside of trading all our picks away for Wentz I'm not sure how we could better address the QB situation."

You're saying that would have been preferable to how the team has handled Kirk?

Yeah ... that came out wrong.

I honestly have no idea what we'd have done if we hadn't re-signed Kirk.

uh ... not cut Griffin?



I guess that was my point.