Redskins & 49ers Could Discuss Kirk Cousins Trade At Combine?

Daniel Jeremiah of the NFL Network mentioned during an interview with 1090 San Diego that he believes there’s a “better than 50 percent” chance QB Kirk Cousins won’t be back with the Redskins next year.

In fact, Jeremiah said he “would not be shocked at all” if the Redskins agreed to trade Cousins to the 49ers at the Combine. If the two sides were able to work out a trade involving Cousins, Jeremiah could see the 49ers parting with their No. 2 overall pick, even though it may require the Redskins to include their own 2017 first-round pick as part of the deal.

Jeremiah hears that there are some within the Redskins’ organization who aren’t sold on paying Cousins the kind of money he could get in a long-term deal on the open market. Jeremiah added that some with the Redskins believe in Colt McCoy as a potential starter.

The 49ers are an obvious landing spot for Cousins, considering that they’re in need of a long-term quarterback to build around and have hired Kyle Shanahan, who has been a big advocate for Cousins in the past, as their new head coach.

Earlier in the week, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, citing a  source with knowledge of the situation, reported that Cousins has no plans to sign a long-term contract before he receives the team’s franchise tag before the upcoming deadline.

Florio says that unless the Redskins are willing to offer a “significant premium,” Cousins has every incentive to wait to be tagged, considering that a second tag would essentially prevent him from ever being franchised again. A third tag would cost a team a 44-percent raise on top of the current tag figure, which is just way too cost prohibitive for a team to take on.

Florio says that if/when Washington tags Cousins, he will “rush to sign” his tender, locking in $23.94 million fully guaranteed for the 2017 season. From there, the two parties can begin negotiating a long-term deal.

Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports mentioned last weekend that the Redskins will be using their franchise tag on Cousins and he fully expects the Redskins to make a “legit concerted effort” to sign him to a long-term contract this offseason, as opposed to the low-ball offers the team reportedly made last year.

In the end, La Canfora suspects the two parties will finally have an agreement in place on a long-term deal by the July 15 deadline to negotiate with franchise players.

 

Cousins, 28, is a former fourth-round pick of the Redskins back in 2012. He played out the final year of his four-year, $2,572,688 rookie contract that included a $472,688 signing bonus when Washington elected to use the franchise tag on Cousins that paid him $19.953 million fully guaranteed for the 2016 season.

Cousins is now in line to test the open market as an unrestricted free agent.

In 2016, Cousins has appeared in all 16 games and thrown for 4,917 yards while completing 67 percent of his passes to go along with 25 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 8 quarterback out of 36 qualifying players.

We have him featured in our Top 100 – 2017 Free Agents list.