Last year, Washington quarterback Kirk Cousins move quickly to accept a one-year, $19.95 million franchise tender from the team. This year, not.
Per a source with knowledge of the situations, Cousins has not yet applied pen to paper, four days after Washington extended a one-year, $23.94 million offer for 2017. Until the offer is accepted by Cousins, it can be rescinded by Washington.
Last year, Cousins signed the tender one day after it was extended.
Given the current disarray in Washington (with the football team, not the rest of the stuff that’s happening), Cousins possibly has decided to sit tight. With so many unusual things going on with the franchise, the tender could potentially be yanked -- especially if Cousins were to take the position that, unlike last year, he won’t show up for the offseason program, training camp, or the preseason, opting instead to arrive a few days before the regular season opener.
This would be fully within the player’s rights, and it would make it difficult for the franchise to get anything close to a full return on its franchise-tagged quarterback.
Cousins said in late January that he’d probably sign the one-year offer and play under the tag. At $23.94 million, why wouldn’t he?
The fact that he hasn’t already pounced on the offer suggests that something is happening. If it’s still not signed by the end of the month, things could get even more interesting in D.C. And by interesting I mean completely and totally dysfunctional.