Contract Talks Between Redskins & Kirk Cousins Ongoing, Have Already Met At Combine

Redskins GM Scot McCloughan told reporters that conversations are going on “every day” between Redskins and QB Kirk Cousins.

“He wants to be a Redskin,” McCloughan said of Cousins.

McCloughan also confirmed that he’s already met with Cousins’ agent, Mike McCartney at the Combine, but reiterated that he wants Cousins to a long-term deal, rather than use the franchise tag.

Even so, McCloughan made it clear that he won’t overextend the franchise to get Cousins locked up long-term.

“I would love to do a long-term deal with Kirk, but I’m not going to ruin the organization financially to do it,” McCloughan said, per Michael Phillips.

Last we heard, Jason Cole of B/R reports that contract talks between the Redskins and Cousins had gotten off to a rough start, and a “huge divide” exists between the two parties.

According to Cole, Washington would like to pay their quarterback between $16-$18 million per year. However, Cousins is willing to gamble on himself in 2016 and play out the year under the franchise tag, which would pay him close to $20 million guaranteed.

Washington has until March 1 to use their tag on Cousins, or allow him to test the open market.

Cousins, 27, played out the final year of his four-year, $2,572,688 rookie contract that included a $472,688 signing bonus and is now considered to be the best available quarterback in this year’s free agent market.

In 2015, Cousins threw for 4,166 yards while completing 69.8 percent of his passes to go along with 29  touchdowns and 11 interceptions over the course of 16 games. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 16 quarterback out of 37 qualifying players.

We have him featured in our Top 100 – 2016 Free Agents list.