Today’s the first day for teams to use the franchise tag if they want to, and Washington might have to.
According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, the team and quarterback Kirk Cousins have broken off contract talks, and no more talks are scheduled.
Of course, it’s still fantastically early for this kind of negotiating scare tactic, and leaves Washington plenty of time to tag Cousins to keep him from hitting a market which includes more demand than supply.
But trying to come up with a deal for a guy who has performed on a consistent basis for one season is tricky, and letting the tag dictate the terms (around $20 million) in the short term might allow both sides to get a better handle on what his value actually is.