If you’re waiting to hear about a long-term deal for quarterback Kirk Cousins, it sounds like it is going to be a while.
Cousins got the franchise tag before free agency opened this season, setting him up to make $19.9 million for the 2016 season after leading the Redskins to an NFC East title in his first full season as a starter. Both sides have said the expected things about a desire to extend the working relationship beyond next season, but General Manager Scot McCloughan sounds more than willing to wait before diving into an extension.
In an interview with Jason Cole of Bleacher Report, McCloughan said that he’s told Cousins that “we’re going to take care of you” if he takes care of the organization and that he’s comfortable paying the inflated price tag that would come with handling things that way because of how important it is to have the right quarterback leading the team.
“Let me overpay him if he’s good,” McCloughan said. “If you have a productive guy, it helps everything, and it proves out. You look around this league and see the teams that are in the playoffs every year and look who the quarterbacks are. Look at the ones who win. It proves out. Don’t get me wrong, the O-line is huge. The running game is huge, which we had in Seattle. But when it’s all said and done and the quarterback can get the guys rallied around him, you have a chance. You’re going to play good defense. That’s easy to fix. You just draft good football players. They can be a small guy, a big guy, as long as they can find the ball. The special teams are going to be good because we’re going to build through the draft, so the younger guys will be big in that. But that quarterback, I’m telling you…”
There’s a chance Cousins can’t repeat last year’s success and the Redskins find themselves back among the teams searching for “that quarterback.” It’s not a place that McCloughan wants to be, obviously, but you’d rather be there without a commitment to Cousins should things break the wrong way in Washington this season.