The Packers came back from 11 points down in the first half for a 35-18 win on Sunday, allowing them to move on to a matchup with the Cardinals and ending a Redskins season that went a week longer than many expected it would go when the year got underway.
With no more games left to play, the team will now turn its attention toward getting back to the postseason in 2016. Quarterback Kirk Cousins will likely be a major focus of that attention as he’s set to be a free agent after guiding the team to a division title in his first full year as the starter.
“I think I want to be where I am wanted,” Cousins said, via the Washington Post. “You want to be with people who believe in you and we are going to find out -- because we haven’t discussed it much yet -- how much I am wanted and where that’ll go. I’m sure it’s a business and the team is going to operate with that mind-set. This is my first time going through that process in the NFL, so it’s new to me. Don’t know a whole lot about it. So we’ll see how it goes.”
The team can make it obvious how much they want Cousins by using the franchise tag to keep him off the open market, a move that would cost them around $20 million if he played out the year under the tag. A report over the weekend said they’re willing to make that move after Cousins thrived down the stretch in the regular season. A quick look at the available quarterback options other than Cousins and the lack of them already in Washington makes it easy to understand why they’d go that route and why Cousins can be choosy about any offers before the tag deadline that would pay him less money.