NFL1000: Is It Time for Washington to Give Kirk Cousins Franchise QB Money?

The bill is about to become due for the Washington Redskins. Figuratively and literally.

When the 2016 season ends, if the team hasn’t signed quarterback Kirk Cousins to a new contract or franchise-tagged him, Cousins would become the hottest commodity at the position, and certainly a high-dollar target for those franchises currently in quarterback purgatory. The team took that discussion off the table by placing Cousins on the franchise tag for the 2016 season, costing them a fully guaranteed $19.953 million. Another tag in 2017 would up the ante to nearly $24 million.

Such a cap hit could be alleviated by giving Cousins a multi-year contract, but that would cost the team something in the area of $20 million per year total by most accounts and if you are in the camp that believes general manager Scot McCloughan will endeavor to find someone he thinks is better, the second tag would make sense.

Here’s the problem: Right now, Cousins is maxing out the above-average (as opposed to spectacular) skill set he’s developed since Washington selected him in the fourth round of the 2012 draft. Cousins had to bide his time while the Robert Griffin III drama played itself out from RGIII’s sure-thing coronation as the NFL’s Next Big Thing through his decline and ouster.

And Cousins has made the most of his opportunities. Sunday night’s Redskins win over the Green Bay Packers put the team at 6-3-1, and while that’s third place in the rising NFC East, Cousins’ fortunes have been undeniable. He has 3,091 passing yards, the most for any NFC East quarterback in history after 10 games, and if he’s able to match his prorated totals for the season, he will have completed 413 of 614 passes for 4,946 yards, 27 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. Not bad at all.

Still, there are complications when it comes to the question of a long-term contract, and if McCloughan is not yet sold, he’s not the only one. I asked Cian Fahey, our NFL1000 quarterbacks scout, for his take on Cousins following Washington’s 42-24 Sunday win, in which Cousins completed 21 of 30 passes for 375 yards and three touchdowns.

“Kirk Cousins had a solid game against the Packers. It was like Marcus Mariota’s game against Green Bay the previous week where Mariota didn’t have to do anything particularly difficult to have success. What stood out was Cousins’ consistency doing simple things, something that has been a problem for the course of his career. He didn’t throw the ball straight to a defender or repeatedly miss big play opportunities downfield.

“Cousins is very much a quarterback who is elevated by his supporting cast rather than a quarterback who elevates his supporting cast. He functions somewhat competently in ideal conditions and Washington can create those ideal conditions because of the crazy talent they have around him. 

“The question is: How would Cousins look if he didn’t have the second-best tight end in the league (Jordan Reed, behind only Rob Gronkowski in Cian’s mind), a dominant pass-blocking line and mismatch-creating receivers in every spot?”

Cian compared Cousins’ current favorable situation to the one Andy Dalton had in Cincinnati in 2015, and I can see some parallels there, as well as other similarities between the two. When the Bengals have a healthy roster, Dalton benefits from a top receiver in A.J. Green whose catch radius makes up for his errant throws, an excellent seam and red-zone target in tight end Tyler Eifert, an outstanding pass-blocking offensive line and a favorable running game.

Cousins does have a lot of help. The offensive line, overseen by Bill Callahan, has been great in …

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