Redskins Mulling Possible Tag-And-Trade Involving Kirk Cousins?

According to Grant Paulsen, rival teams talking with the Reskins believe Bruce Allen could make a concerted effort to trade QB Kirk Cousins and prevent him from testing the open market.

Paulsen admits that he can’t see how Washington would be able to pull off this trade for a number of reasons including the fact that tagging Cousins would cost them between $28-$34 million, depending on what tag they would use and prevent them from using that money on free agents until they have finalized a trade.

Even so, Paulsen says that teams apparently feel like the Redskins are going to attempt to trade Cousins.

Another issue with this tag-and-trade scenario is that it would require another team to be willing to part with better than the third-round compensatory pick and negotiate a long-term deal with Cousins in order to prevent them from renting him for just one year.

This is exactly what the Redskins earlier in the week after they agreed to the deal for Alex Smith.

Beyond that, Paulsen wonders why Cousins would agree to a long-term deal with a team that Washington lined up in a trade when it would prevent him from testing the open market.

John Keim comments that Washington would be taking a “massive risk” if they went this route with Cousins, especially if he tells teams he isn’t interested in signing a long-term deal with any team. The Redskins would be in a situation where they could be trying to move a player, who’s essentially being paid $34 million for one year.

Keim gets the impression that the Redskins are trying to make it seem like they’re able to do something that they really can’t.

Recent reports and speculation have said the teams to watch for him are the Browns, Broncos and Jets. Other teams such as the Jaguars, Cardinals and Bills have also been tossed out as potential landing spots for Cousins.

Cousins, 29, 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.

The Redskins franchised him for the second year in a row this last year and he made $23.94 million fully guaranteed for the 2017 season.

In 2017, Cousins has appeared in all 16 games and thrown for 4,093 yards while completing 64.3percent of his passes to go along with 27 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. He’s also rushed for 179 yards and four touchdowns. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 20 quarterback out of 40 qualifying players.

We have him featured in our Top 100 – 2018 NFL Free Agents list.