Redskins Notes: Cousins, Hall, McCoy

Redskins senior vice president of player personnel Doug Williams recently said that Kirk Cousins has proven that he’s among the league’s 15 best quarterbacks. Williams is selling Cousins short, Seth Walder of ESPN.com argues, and the Redskins will have to give him better than “above average” compensation to keep him.

The Cousins-led offense recorded the second-most passing yards in 2016 while throwing for the third-most yards per attempt (8.1) among quarterbacks. Cousins ranked in the top six of Football Outsiders’ DVOA in the last two years and he finished No. 8 and No. 4, respectively, in Pro Football Reference’s adjusted net yards per attempt in ’15 and ’16. He’s also performed better than Raiders QB Derek Carr who just inked a five-year, $125MM deal. Cousins ranked fourth in Total QBR over 2015-2016 while Carr finished 26th.

Here’s more from D.C.:

• Redskins safety DeAngelo Hall turns 34 in November but it’s not a certainty that he’ll be with the team when that happens, Rich Tandler of CSNWashington.com writes. Hall, a 14-year veteran, seems more likely to make the roster after accepting a pay cut earlier this summer, but it’s not a slam dunk since the team has younger and cheaper players that can be plugged into the secondary. Ultimately, I think Hall’s experience will keep him on the roster as a backup safety, especially with his reasonable $2.3MM base salary.
• Within the same piece, Tandler also implies that backup quarterback Colt McCoy could actually step up to replace Cousins as the Redskins‘ starter next year if Cousins is no longer in the picture. McCoy, 31 in September, stepped in for Cousins’ as the starting QB in 2014 and had some strong performances. Of course, in 2015, Cousins emerged as the Redskins’ clear cut starter and he has not given McCoy an opening in the last two seasons. It’s too early to speculate about Washington’s plans for 2018 if Cousins is not retained, but it sounds like they might not have to turn to free agency or the draft to find a fill-in if Cousins is out of the picture.