Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins was busy promoting the Puppy Bowl for Animal Planet Thursday on Radio Row in Houston, and he happened to stop by KNBR.
Call it a coincidence or a coordinated, leveraged effort from his agent that he ended up on a San Francisco sports radio show, but the Pro Bowler made a couple things clear on the airwaves.
A) He’s cool with the franchise tag from Washington and almost encouraged it — which was interesting.
B) He’s open to the idea of playing for the 49ers
“I’ll tell ya, it’s good to be wanted. So hopefully down the road there will be people wanting me,” he said. “But we’ll see how it all plays out. The unique thing with the franchise tag is if the Redskins choose to place that on me, then I’m pretty much off the market. So we’ll see what they choose to do on March 1st. And the ball is in their court, along those lines, but based on that, I’ll react accordingly.
“(The franchise tag) is a good amount of money. So I’m not complaining. As my agent told me from Day 1, the franchise tag is your friend.”
My opinion on all of this: If Kyle Shanahan is sold he can turn Cousins into Matt Ryan, having Washington franchise tag him for 2017 won’t necessarily be the end of this courtship. Cousins might believe in Shanahan’s coaching long term more than he does Jay Gruden’s. That could be a deciding factor if both teams are at the negotiating table in 2018. Pivoting to the 49ers in the future would be progressive thinking for the 28-year-old instead of locking in long term with the Redskins.
Why the hold up? Why not trade the No. 2 overall pick if you think Cousins can lead you to the Super Bowl? Shanahan needs a year to implement his system, refurbish the culture and add skill players all over the field. Cousins could obviously help with that process, but it would also be a bad look if the quarterback struggled Year 1 in San Francisco after obtaining a $120 million deal. Shanahan has proven he can work with stop-gap quarterbacks — he could also find someone like Dak Prescott in the middle rounds. Adding Cousins in 2018 would not be the worst scenario possible. Remember, Shanahan has a six-year contract.
And the 49ers might be able to sneak Cousins in the backdoor because of how the Redskins do business.
If the Redskins have another early playoff exit in January of 2018, Dan Snyder’s impatient culture in Washington will trigger, and a long term deal won’t be reached because Scot McCloughan will try and low-ball the quarterback. And as Cousins said on Thursday, if that happens, he would be inclined to go shopping on the open market.
“If they don’t tag me, that also sends a strong message,” Cousins said. “And at that point, I would certainly feel like maybe I’ve got to look elsewhere.”
McCloughan is going to tag Cousins. The Redskins have a small window of opportunity to make a run in the NFC. If they get rid of Cousins, what are they going to do? Trade for Brock Osweiler? Sign Mike Glennon? Getting rid of Cousins would rock the boat hard enough that it could flip into a 5-11 season. Washington’s GM has his hands tied.
Does that put the 49ers in a holding pattern at the quarterback position? Being familiar with the way Shanahan thinks, I’d say he wouldn’t want to commit big money to anyone other than Cousins or Garoppolo. No Jay Cutler. No Tony Romo. A rookie will no doubt be drafted, but the more it’s looking, it won’t be in round one because of the other myriad of needs on the team.
Maybe it was just to make the Redskins front office a little nervous or maybe he really feels this way, but Cousins had glowing things to say about John Lynch and Shanahan. Here’s a partial transcript from his conversation with Garry and Larry on KNBR.
Kirk Cousins on Lynch
You know, John’s a smart guy. He’s been around this league a long time. He knows what it takes to win a Super Bowl. He’s done it. Been in a couple of really good organizations. And while there may be a learning curve because he hasn’t been in that role before and it’ll take some time, I think down the road they may have as sharp of a guy and as experienced a guy as you can find. And a class act in that. I think it was a good hire and credit the 49ers for going outside the box and doing something different and not just getting stuck in a rut of the same ole thing.
Kirk Cousins on Kyle Shanahan
Oh, I’ve always been a big fan of Kyle’s. I’ve always spoken very highly of him from the day I was picked. And he called me right after the draft and just preached belief in me and encouragement and has coached me hard in all my years playing for him. I loved his system right away and saw it successfully run with Robert Griffin, I’ve now seen it successfully run with Matt Ryan. And I just believe Kyle adapts his scheme to the players he has. He’s just an offensive genius. He understands Xs and Os very well. He watches film, he just doesn’t read press clippings or make decisions based on hype. He watches the tape and his decisions over time have proven to be right. I’m a big fan of his. I always will be. Even though he’s been on other teams I’ve always rooted for him and wanted to see him succeed.
Kirk Cousins on his tackle on Aqib Talib in the Pro Bowl
My agent texted me about had a heart attack when he saw (me) do that. We were driving down the field before the interception trying to tie the game up. It was 20-13 at that point. We had a chance to tie it up or maybe go for the win for the two-point conversion. I got Von Miller coming off the right edge just screaming every single play rushing like crazy. And Jurrell Casey up the middle. So at that point, this is full out. I’m thinking we’ve got to try and win this thing. And at that point, it didn’t feel like a patty-cake game anymore.
Kirk Cousins on if he’s happy in Washington
You know, I want to be where I’m wanted. Last year when the team tagged me, I felt like that was an indication I’m wanted there — at least for that year. They wouldn’t have tagged me and, as you said, put up that kind of money for a guy they didn’t want. And I think the same is true now. Come March 1st, if they tag me, that sends a strong indication that we want you back. You’re our guy. And in the NFL, it’s season to season anyway. It’s all one-year deals for the most part. So I’ll take the one-year deal at that point. But, you know if they don’t tag me, that also sends a strong message. And at that point, I would certainly feel like maybe I’ve got to look elsewhere.
Kirk Cousins on if a one-year deal is disrespectful
Well, there are other factors that come into play. They understand the salary cap and all that much more than I do. All I can do is go play football the best I can. Find completions, move the ball, score points. And then let the decision makers make the decisions. And I’ll just keep trying to play good football, good quality football at the quarterback position and if I do that, trust that good things will happen. You are really only promised the next game, the next season. So I’ll take it one year at a time and trust that if I can get out there and get a chance to play, that I’ll make good on it and good things will happen down the road.