Kirk Cousins recently said he wants to never change teams. Which means, obviously, he wants to stay where he is.
In an interview televised during Saturday’s broadcast of preseason action against Green Bay, Cousins made it clear that he wants to be in Washington for his full career.
“So I want to be a Washington Redskin, yes,” Cousins said. “That’s an easy answer. Great organization. Phenomenal history. Passionate fan base. Great city. There’s just so many positive teammates. I love my teammates, I love playing with these guy. I don’t need to look elsewhere.”
Talking like that helps undo the damage done by the team when it chose to release details of a record-setting offer that Cousins chose to refuse. In making the organization look fair and reasonable, team president Bruce Allen made Cousins look greedy and selfish. While some may say that declaring he wants to stay put reduces his leverage come 2018, the end result could be that more pressure is placed on the team to pay a guy who wants to stick around.
As it stands, Washington has three options for next year: (1) use the franchise tag again, at $34.47 million for one year; (2) apply the transition tag, at $28.78 million for one year (Cousins then can sign an offer sheet elsewhere, and leave with no compensation if Washington doesn’t match it); or (3) let Cousins become a free agent. While, in theory, Washington could sign Cousins to a long-term deal before having to pick one of those three options, the best business move will be to force Washington to plant a flag in one of those three locations.
Given the structure of the offer the team made in May (six years, but only two guaranteed), there’s a deeper message possibly being sent by Cousins to the team and its fan base: He’s willing to make a long-term commitment, but the team isn’t -- and if he ultimately leaves, it will be not his fault, but the team’s.