The Redskins have agreed to a new four-year contract with newly-acquired quarterback Alex Smith that will keep him in the nation’s capital through the 2022 campaign, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link). 
The new deal will pay Smith $23.5MM annually and features $70MM in guarantees, reports Chris Mortensen of ESPN.com (Twitter link). That guarantee figure likely doesn’t refer to full guarantees, as no player has topped the $61MM mark in full guarantees. However, Smith will still become the sixth-highest-paid quarterback in terms of annual salary.
Smith had only one season remaining on his former contract: he would’ve earned a $14.5MM base salary next season, and because he was acquired via trade, Washington wouldn’t have been on the hook for any of his signing bonus proration. Whether Smith’s new deal alters his 2018 cap charge is unclear, but he’s likely to pocket some extra cash this year thanks to a fresh signing bonus.
The Redskins rank near the top of the league in available cap space with more than $52MM in reserves, so they’ll be able to afford to give their new quarterback a raise. While Smith is coming off arguably the best season of his career, he’s also 33 years old, so he may not have had the leverage to become the league’s highest-paid quarterback. Washington and Smith likely agreed to an extension prior to the trade that will significantly increase Smith’s salary, but keep him below the $25MM+ average that currently tops the quarterback market.
Washington was famously resistant to inking former starter Kirk Cousins to a long-term deal, and had assigned the Cousins the franchise tag for two consecutive seasons. As such, Cousins earned nearly $44MM from 2016-17, and would have taken home north of $34MM in 2018 had the Redskins opted to deploy the franchise tender again.
What are the redskins doing man lol
But they couldn’t give Kirk money..cool
Smith is a million times better than Cousins
I agree, plus he costs less. Have fun in Cleveland Kirk
Smith is barely a million times better than my “Cousin”, he’s nowhere near as good as Kirk Cousins.
And will be millions cheaper
Smith is better than Cousins? While Cousins has much to prove, Smith has proved that he can’t get to the big game. Smith isn’t the difference maker type of QB. Cousins has a few years before the jury is out on him.
Is the big game problem Smith or Reid though? Don’t forget that Reid is one of the best head coaches to never win a Super Bowl and a lot of that has to do with his game management in crunch time.
Smith needs the Trent Dilfer setup…aka the Ravens.
I hear ya, but I think Smith is much better than Dilfer.
Is that in comparison to all the big games Cousins was able to get to?
Alex smith is not the answer though, they need so much more than just a mediocre QB
I suggest you look at … well statistics. What a lame move by the skins. Great for Dallas and Philly
This wont be official for over a month
So…they’ll pay him between more than 25M and less than more than 25M?
It’s basic mathematics if you divide 25 million by the square root of Pi to the 8th power minus 7, and multiply all that by 4, it can simultaneously be greater than, less than, and equal to 25 million.
That math doesn’t work out.
I guess the Redskins aren’t committed to winning… Smith has proven he can only take a team so far before he falls flat. He’s 2-5 in 7 playoff games…
And Cousins is 0-1, so there’s that.
And what has Cousins done!? Nothing! Stats mean nothing he hasn’t carried that team into and through the playoffs!
And yet he’s been in seven playoff games. Not everybody has the luxury of trotting a Tom Brady out there.
Class act. He’ll do well in Washington.
Very smart move by the Redskins. In my opinion you didn’t improve but you didn’t get worse either and you did this while saving money improve other areas of the team. They would’ve had to spend way too much to keep Cousins and they basically got just as good of a QB. People saying this is dumb move or Smith sucks have no idea what they are talking about. What has Cousins done? Yea he’s put up some decent numbers but has he carries the team to the playoffs and gotten playoff wins!? No!
I think they’re a wash
telling you guys right now, there is no way that the redskins do this without a tag and trade deal in place for cousins as well. He isn’t just going to be able to walk away as a free agent.
You can trade a free agent?
If you apply the franchise tag yes.
Yea and I’m sure teams would be lining up to pay him $34 million and possibly see him walk next season.. Washington should have just given the money to cousins and saved the 3rd rounder.. Either way they are ain’t $hit in the NFC
I doubt anyone’s accepting his tag number in a trade?
Amazed that the Redskins did not offer the same contract to Cousins – a younger QB with better playmaking abilities.
It’s possible that they did and he wanted more.
Cousins was offered a similar deal last off-season. Had $14m less in guarantees but he didn’t even counter. Skins knew he didn’t want to be here so they moved on.
Hahahahaha- oh this is good. How do you think Alex “noodle arm” Smith is going to handle throwing outdoors on the east coast?
You think it’s not cold in KC in the winter? Smith has winning career record, Cousins does not. Smith has greater TD to Int ratio by far. Check the stats.
Spoken like every other Smith fan everywhere. “Check the stats” “check his winning percentage” blah blah blah. Get over yourselves and look at something that actually matters at the end of the day. Playoff wins, Super Bowls, or at least use the eye test.
Yes, Alex Smith will help a decent team win 9 or 10 games each year… he will dink and dunk screen passes all Sunday long. But at the end of your season you’ll be sitting on the couch watching real QBs play.
Btw- I’m quite familiar with the weather in KC, thank you. I’ve lived here for 30 years. If you think the winter in KC is comparable to the east coast with coastal wind and storm fronts you may want to educate yourself a little bit.
I don’t think anyone thinks Smith is amazing. But he’s probably a wash with Cousins and will cost less annually.
A guy that will be 34 before the next season starts…and signed for 4 years…have fun with that!