Kirk Cousins' looming payday is enough to make Dan Snyder say, 'Oooo-wee'
In a 'prove-it' year, Washington's QB has all but backed the Redskins into a corner
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A little less than one year ago I wrote this introduction to a Sunday column:
Jay Gruden is keeping his job.
Kirk Cousins is going to get paid.
Washington is going to win the NFC East.
Yeah, the Redskins were 5-6 at the time, and that turned out to be a pretty prescient call by yours truly. But that's not the point (OK, some back patting is always an underlying motive here, but that's not my primary objective).
The point is this: I'm making the same call again, at least on two of the three counts (and I don't rule out the third). Most notably, that Cousins is on the cusp of a massive payday, one that will obliterate the $20 million franchise tag he is playing on. The Redskins aren't going to have a choice.
It's happening. Again.
In his "prove-it" year Cousins is proving that, indeed, 2015 was no fluke. He is again keeping the Redskins in playoff contention, rebounding again from a slow start and putting up some of the best numbers this franchise has ever seen. Sunday was another exemplary performance. Cousins got the best of that once-vaunted Vikings defense and kept the Skins within yelling distance of the division-leading Cowboys in a 26-20 win. Oh, and speaking of yelling distance, allow me to point out that, going back to the "You Like That?!?!" game last October, a stunning comeback win over the Bucs, Cousins is 12-6-1 in the regular season.
Here are Cousins' stats dating back to that game, which turned around a moribund season for Washington: 487 for 702, 69 percent completion rate, 8.19 yards per attempt, 39 touchdowns, 10 interceptions, 106.4 QB rating.
That's about as good as it gets, folks. And that doesn't read like a fluke.
Cousins is being asked to throw a lot, and he is doing so effectively and securely in cutting down on the interception bugaboo that dogged him early in his career. He's also spreading the ball around. Six Redskins already have 20 or more receptions, and Cousins has won games without his primary target, oft-injured tight end Jordan Reed. On Sunday, he dissected the Vikings without his Pro Bowl left tackle, Trent Williams, who is serving a four-game suspension, and his best deep threat, injured DeSean Jackson.
Cousins will never be a sexy enough passer for some, or you can chalk up his numbers to having so many weapons, I suppose. But if you think those numbers he is putting up are those of a game manager, or anything pedestrian, then we aren't watching the same games.
He came out firing Sunday, carving up the Vikings' secondary for a 14-0 cushion, and he helped move the ball downfield to put the game away, as well. If not for a blown pass interference call, this may well have been a blowout.
Could he improve on some red-zone stuff? Sure. Most quarterbacks can. But there are plenty of teams who would sell their souls to get that kind of production out of their passer.
The corollary to this is that if owner Dan Snyder and chief dollar-counter Bruce Allen think they can improve on this, after balking on giving Cousins a long-term deal last offseason, I would love to know their plan. Because it isn't in the draft, at least not how those quarterbacks are being evaluated now.
You want to go out and overpay an aging journeyman like Ryan Fitzpatrick when he's out of New York? Want to duplicate the ridiculousness of the Texans giving $37 million guaranteed to inept Brock Osweiler, who can't crack 100 yards passing against even the most forgiving AFC South defenses? You want to trade for Jay Cutler and pay him $18 million to toss pick-six after pick-six? Maybe take a chance on Colin Kaepernick?
Seriously, where are they finding an adequate replacement? I know some scouts who really like the Skins' No. 3 quarterback, Nate Sudfeld, but that would be quite the ballsy move.
The reality is, barring injury, Cousins is a few weeks away from having Snyder checkmated.
Cousins has stabilized a once-toxic quarterback room, leading the franchise out of the Robert Griffin III error, and doing so with humility and a team-first attitude and the occasional burst of confidence and swag. Washington has lost only once in its past seven games, and the defense looks more legit each week.
With a Thanksgiving Day rematch against the Cowboys looming, the Redskins could still make this division race interesting, and with so many other potential free-agent quarterbacks either hurt, benched, spiraling or all of the above, there would be plenty of teams lined up to say, "You Like That?!?" to Cousins on the open market.
