Kirk Cousins Officially Signs Franchise Tender

Update:

Redskins QB Kirk Cousins has officially signed his franchise tender on Friday, according to his agent.

QB @KirkCousins8 has signed his Franchise contract

— Mike McCartney (@MikeMcCartney7) March 10, 2017

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Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that Redskins QB Kirk Cousins will sign his franchise tag at some point in the near future. Rapoport adds that Cousins is a “good soldier” and “knows he’s likely not going anywhere.”

Earlier in the day, ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reported that Cousins personally appealed to Redskins owner Dan Snyder for a trade, but was basically told not to get his hopes up. Adam Schefter added that the Redskins, up to this point, have shown zero inclination to trade Cousins and continue to insist they will not.

The Redskins officially placed the exclusive franchise tag on Cousins Tuesday. The exclusive tag prevents other teams from negotiating with him during free agency, but the Redskins are still fully able to trade him to another team and give him permission to speak to a team about a long-term extension.

By tagging Cousins again, this all but rules out a third franchise tag for Cousins, which means he’s one season away from testing the open market and possibly becoming the highest paid player in the NFL.

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.

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’ll have more regarding Cousins as the news is available.