The Washington Redskins are going to miss Kirk Cousins if for no other reason than they’ll have to find a new target to snipe at moving forward.
Cousins’ tenure with Washington is over and Cousins will get a very large contract to play quarterback for another team in the near future. However, that didn’t stop a prominent member of the Redskins franchise taking one last shot at Cousins as he heads out the door.
Doug Williams, a Super Bowl winning quarterback with the Redskins and the team’s senior vice president of player personnel, gave his impression of Cousins’ play and being unable to sign Cousins long-term deal to Tom Friend of TheSportsCapitol.com.
It wasn’t exactly glowing.
“We watch opportunities that we didn’t take advantage of, not the yardage,” Williams said of Cousins. “How many opportunities did you pass up? How many opportunities did you give your players to make plays. Little stuff like that.”
No quarterback makes every correct decision in front of him. Not Tom Brady. Not Joe Montana. Not Peyton Manning. Cousins is no exception. However, he’s posted three straight seasons with over 4,000 passing yards and a passer rating of at least 93.9.
Williams did say he’s disappointed that Cousins won’t be with the team any longer and called him “a guy with talent, a guy that could get it done.” However, he was a guy Washington never wanted to commit to for the long-term despite his play on the field. He was also a guy team president Bruce Allen seemingly called “Kurt” repeatedly while reading a statement criticizing the quarterback for not being interested in the team’s overtures last July.
Cousins played his final two seasons in Washington under the franchise tag and is being courted by the Minnesota Vikings, New York Jets, Denver Broncos and Arizona Cardinals for his services.
“For me to say he handled right or wrong is not for me to say,” Williams said. “I can only say from my perspective – only me – if I was in his shoes, which I couldn’t be in his shoes, it would be hard for me not to still be here. Being in the nation’s capital, and having something to work with. When you talk about the offensive line, it’s a certain thing. And then there’s the comfortability part of it. No. 8 was here for six years. And had an opportunity to be here for the next five, I’m sure, if that’s what he chose.
“But that’s what free agency is all about. You give a man an opportunity to do what he wants to do. The No. 8 era is over. We got to put that on the side and start the No. 11 or whatever era. It’s over.”
Washington erred by being cautious and waiting to offer Cousins a long-term contract. The quarterback market was always going to increase exponentially and Cousins’ play over the last three years ensured he was only going to become more and more expensive to keep around. That has given Cousins the chance to hit the market and choose his destiny. It’s no wonder he’s choosing somewhere other than Washington.