East Notes: Redskins, Garoppolo, Romo, Revis

With the Redskins off to an 0-2 start, some of quarterback Kirk Cousins‘ teammates have reportedly expressed dissatisfaction with his early season output. That doesn’t surprise former Redskins linebacker Keenan Robinson, who spent the first three years of his career with Washington before signing with the Giants over the winter. “When I was there, three out of four years, it was the same thing,” he said Tuesday (via Jordan Raanan of ESPN.com). “Once they get down, they start pointing fingers. And that is true. That is what happens. And for the Redskins — I’ve only been on one team before I came here, and that was them — and all I saw was not the right way to handle it. I feel like they didn’t handle it the right way when I was there.”

Robinson is glad to have left the Redskins in favor of the Giants, saying, “I like it here better. I would say that for sure.”

As we wait for this Sunday’s tilt between Robinson’s ex-team and his current one, here’s more from the East divisions:

• The Redskins’ offseason decision to place the franchise tag on Cousins in lieu of signing him to a lucrative long-term deal looks prudent now, opines John Keim of ESPN.com. But if Cousins is unable regain something resembling his 2015 form, it’ll leave the team looking for a quarterback again, Keim notes. Ideally, he’ll emerge as a legitimate franchise-caliber passer and prove himself worthy of a major commitment for the foreseeable future.
• On one hand, it’s possible quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo will be the successor to Tom Brady in New England. On the other, Ryan Hannable of WEEI writes that Garoppolo might never play a meaningful snap as a Pat again once Brady returns from his four-game Deflategate suspension in Week 5. Brady is signed through the 2019 campaign, his age-42 season, and Garoppolo is only under contract through the end of next year. The best-case scenario for the Patriots would include retaining both, but that will look unrealistic as long as Brady continues as one of the league’s elite signal-callers.
• Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo had a back exam and a brief pregame throwing session in Washington, D.C., over the weekend, Ed Werder of ESPN.com tweets. One observer was surprised by Romo’s velocity and lack of restrictions. The 36-year-old is hoping to return sometime in October and it seems he is on track to do just that.
• While Brian Costello of the New York Post expects cornerback Darrelle Revis to rebound from his early season issues, his $13MM salary for 2017 will still be an anvil, Costello opines. Cutting the 31-year-old Revis after the season would leave the Jets on the hook for $8MM in dead money, which means he’s likely to remain with the club, per Costello. In the Jets’ first two games this year, the five-time first-team All-Pro has given up 10 catches and 152 yards to Bengals receiver A.J. Green and allowed an 84-yard touchdown to a far less formidable wideout, the Bills’ Marquise Goodwin.

Zach Links contributed to this post.