More Reactions To Cousins/Redskins Talks

It’s time to trade Kirk Cousins, Bill Barnwell of ESPN.com opines. In Barnwell’s view, the Redskins blew it with Cousins by lowballing him and then bashing him in a bizarre public statement. At this juncture, it seems unlikely that Cousins will stay with the Redskins long term and Washington can only keep him off the open market with an expensive third franchise tag, giving a record $78.4MM over three seasons to a quarterback who they did not feel was worthy of big money.

Giving up Cousins in a trade might sting, but it would be even worse to lose him for nothing. Barnwell wonders if the 49ers might be willing to give up a 2018 second-round choice and Brian Hoyer in a trade. Or, perhaps the Browns would give up the Texans’ 2018 first-round pick plus a restructured Brock Osweiler. Neither trade feels like a big win for Washington, but it might be the logical move after the way things have played out.

Here’s more on Cousins:

• If Washington was not going to sign Cousins long term, they should have drafted a quarterback or signed one in free agency, Mike Lombardi of The Ringer tweets. Without that, he says, the Redskins to operate with no leverage. To play devil’s advocate, the Redskins already have a quality backup in Colt McCoy and there’s weren’t a ton of affordable quarterbacks available who were clearly better than him in free agency this year. They also like Nate Sudfeld as their developmental quarterback. To drum up leverage, they would have had to draft a QB who was markedly better than Sudfeld, and that would have meant drafting one in the first two or three rounds. That’s a costly move to make for a leverage play.
• Cousins’ agent, Mike McCartney, liked some very interesting tweets in the hours following the deadline, Peter Halley of CSNMidAtlantic.com writes. One tweet compared the Redskins to a desperate and bitter guy in a budding relationship.
• Cousins’ future in Washington could partially hinge on how well he works with coach Jay Gruden this year, ESPN.com’s John Keim opines. With Sean McVay out of the picture, Gruden will be calling the plays and working more closely with Cousins than he has in the past. Cousins will probably also want to see the restructured Washington front office move in a positive direction.
• In an interview on Tuesday morning, Cousins said that staying with the Redskins is still his first choice. However, he also confirmed that he did not send an offer to the team.