To the shock of no one, the 4 PM deadline came and went in Washington today and the Redskins did not sign a Long Term Deal with Quarterback Kirk Cousins. Cousins will now be the first player in NFL history to play under two consecutive franchise tags.
As it usually happens in the Nation’s Capital, Redskins President Bruce Allen read a statement at 4:01 PM blaming Cousins for the deal not getting done. Allen said:
“On May 2nd, the night after the draft, we made Kirk an offer that included the highest fully guaranteed amount upon signing for a quarterback in NFL history ($53 million) and guaranteed a total of $72 million for injury. The deal would have made him at least the second highest-paid player by average per year in NFL History.”
This statement was clearly crafted to throw Cousins under the bus. At face value, Cousins turning this deal down makes it look like he did not want to play ball with Washington. In fact, Allen also stated, “But despite our repeated attempts, we have not received any offer from Kirk’s agent this year.” When you get into the numbers though, this is just Allen trying to cover his behind.
To know the NFL is to know their contract structure. NFL contracts are not fully guaranteed, only certain parts are. Because Cousins is on the franchise tag, he is guaranteed 24 million dollars this season on a one year deal. Had he signed long term today, that contract would have been torn up. Today was not an extension, but rather a new negotiation. If Cousins’ signed today, that $24 million contract would be null and void. So now we can really analyze this deal.
The reported offer from the Redskins was a five-year deal, with a $53 million signing bonus and $72 million guaranteed. So the difference in guaranteed money is 48 million dollars. Let’s look at this from Cousins perspective.
2017 guaranteed cash- $24 million
2018- $28 or $34 million from Washington (if the Redskins choose to use the transition tag or the franchise tag again)
So by saying no and doing absolutely nothing, Cousins is at worst guaranteed $52 million over the next two seasons if Washington uses the transition tag. So why would Cousins accept this? He made $20 million last year and has $24 coming this year. Are one extra million dollars enough to commit long term? There was absolutely no incentive for Cousins to say yes to this deal. It’s likely the Cousins camp never responded because the Redskins never made a real offer. The fact that Bruce Allen ran to the media to blame him is nothing but spin control.