A long-term deal for Kirk Cousins and the Redskins is still viewed as a long shot, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. There has been an “improved tone” between the two sides, Schefter writes, but there apparently hasn’t been much progress. 
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It would cost the Redskins more than $34MM to use the franchise tag on Cousins for a third time in 2018, so there’s definitely incentive for them to get a long-term deal done. At the same time, Cousins is very comfortable with betting on himself, so he is not sweating things out. It is believed that the quarterback will push for $50-60MM in guaranteed money to get an extension done, a sum that roughly represents the money he would earn through franchise tags in 2017 and 2018. Even the less costly transition tag in 2018 ($28MM) would still give Cousins a projected $52MM over the next two years, so that $50-60MM ask makes plenty of sense.
Recently, the NFL pushed back the deadline for teams to sign franchise players to long term deals, so the to sides will have until July 17 to hammer out a new pact. Typically, the franchise deadline is on July 15, but the NFL bumped up the date since it falls on a Saturday this year.
Kyle Shanahan is probably grinning at this news. The longer this goes through the more Shanahan believes he can obtain his QB.