Of course 'we can' - we 'can' do anything

The point is - what's in the best interests of the franchise. I've already acknowledged that we can't cripple the franchise in order to secure Cousins. But if we low ball him and offer him $16-17 million a year (when he knows damn well other teams will offer him $23-25 million a year) we are just shooting ourselves in the foot.
Colt? I like Colt. He's a gamer. But he doesn't have an NFL arm and never will. Sure, he could be a placeholder - but then what? We're a top 5-10 offense right now, and we're a borderline playoff team. Wonder what dropping into the 15-20 range does for our prospects? Could the defense be improved and keep us competitive? I hope so, but we don't exactly have a track record of dramatic improvements from season to season. So in my mind, the downsides of not getting a deal done with Cousins are not insignificant, including:
1) Break in continuity. We already may have some of that if McVay leaves (may not be a bad thing, but it will be a change that has to be navigated). Starting over with a new QB (back up or not) is potentially unnecessary change.
2) If we have 2 subpar or downward trending seasons with McCoy or someone else under center, that likely signals complete regime change. Me? I don't pine for that. I know you are not a Gruden fan, and if I'm being honest the best I can say is that he has improved overall team play but the jury is still out on him. But we have 2 losing seasons and we'll be starting over. Again. For the gazillionth time.
3) The idea that we'll just 'find another QB' - okay, that sounds great. Exactly how do we do that? We've been trying to find a good, consistent, franchise caliber QB (not HOFer, but a reliable productive long-term starting QB) for the better part of 20 years. We finally find one, and we're going to let him walk? Big mistake. I almost hope we do let him walk because I'm going to ride those of you advocating for it to the grave when it doesn't work out so well for us. Maybe we'll stumble and bumble our way into the next big QB star with a 7th round pick. Maybe Nate Sudfeld is the 2nd coming. And maybe Scarlet Johanssen is going to email me for a secret hookup this weekend. It could happen, right?
Only other point I'll make is that we are building something. A step back now means that when we finally do find a solid long-term QB post-Kirk, many of the players we acquired in the 'build up' start aging out (Kerrigan for example). For me, success in the NFL is all about momentum from season to season. Letting Cousins go is an absolute momentum killer.
As for 'Ugly American', for someone who dishes out the snark and aggressive posts as often as anyone, you don't take it nearly as well

How many more times are you going to reference it?