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NFL Network analyst: Better than 50 percent chance Kirk Cousins leaves Washington this year



By Dan Steinberg February 22 at 8:41 AM

Kirk Cousins in October. (Photo by Jonathan Newton / The Washington Post)

Many people are saying things about Kirk Cousins and his future in Washington. Here are some of them.

‘A greater than 50 percent chance that he’s not with the Redskins next year.’

NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah speculated on a San Diego radio show this week that Cousins could be traded to San Francisco in the near future.

“I don’t think they’re going to be able to get a long-term deal done, and I think there is, I would say, a greater than 50 percent chance that he’s not with the Redskins next year,” Jeremiah said. “So you’ve got the combine coming up, all these teams will be together. I would not be shocked, at all, if we saw a Kirk Cousins to San Francisco trade go down at that point in time. And now you’ve got the Dominoes really starting to fall. …

“From what I hear, they’re not, in [Redskins Park], totally 100 percent sold on Kirk to give him the money that he could get,” Jeremiah said later. “So I don’t think they come to a long-term deal, and I don’t think they can really afford to franchise him next year for a third year. So the feeling is hey, if we’re going to move on, we need to get something in exchange for him. And San Francisco would seem like the likely landing spot there. So we’ll see what happens. If they believe in Colt McCoy like some people believe they do, they make that trade, they end up with the second pick in the draft. Might have to part with their own pick, no. 17, but they could wind up with the second pick in the draft. And then they have to decide if they want to draft one of these kids, or whether you go with Colt McCoy and just draft somebody else at that spot.”

‘He is straight gangsta’

Longtime NFL reporter Jim Trotter said on ESPN’s “NFL Insiders” program that Cousins might be among the most mercenary NFL players he’s encountered.

“The one thing I love about Kirk Cousins is that he is straight gangsta,” Trotter said. “Not -er. Straight gangsta. Ends with an ‘A.’ Owners are used to always having the leverage against players, and players will often capitulate for money. Kirk understands what his value is, and he is not going to short-sell himself. He looks at it now as look, I got $20 million last year, I’ll get 24 this year, that’s $44 million over two years. And then I go out on the free agent market next year, where if he has another season [similar] to what he had last year and this year, he can look to get guarantees at a minimum of $40 to $50 million. Which means he will have made close to $90 million to $100 million over three years. I think he’s okay with that. …

“The beauty here for me is you have a player who understands his market value, understands leverage and is willing to bet on himself and is not going to take less than what he can get,” Trotter went on. “He is maximizing his earnings. And at times, I’ve been criticized before [when] I would say that a contract I felt wasn’t good, in part because I felt a player had leverage and didn’t maximize it. Kirk is doing it. Short of Darrelle Revis, he may be the most mercenary player in the NFL that I’ve ever been around in my two decades.”

‘Give him a long-term deal and just end the problem.’

NFL Network analyst Willie McGinest implied that Cousins is better for the Redskins than any quarterback they could find in the draft.

“I think he has grown in this system,” McGinest said. “I think he’s one of these players that gets better and better as he’s involved in a system, like Jay Gruden’s. It’s very difficult and complicated. I think he understands that now. He plays great within that system. Yes, [you’d like] more consistency, throughout the year, for an entire 16 games. And you want to see him put the team on his back at times and make certain throws and take over football games. Of course.

“Look around the NFL; it’s not flooded with great quarterbacks,” McGinest said. “Look at the draft. You can’t find a guy right now that you’d say you would probably take over Kirk Cousins in the draft. This is a guy that’s at home, he plays great within the system, he is continuously getting better. Give him a long-term deal. Don’t play around with it. Because you’re not going to keep paying him [under the tag]. Give him a long-term deal and just end the problem.”

Romo has a higher ceiling

Analyst Cris Carter said on FS1 this week that if he were the Redskins, he would take Tony Romo over Cousins, at least in the short term.

“If you ask me over the next three years … I’m gonna go with Romo,” he said. “I really am. I’m gonna go with Romo, because I know what Romo can do, and I believe his ceiling is still higher. … I’m worried about the upside. Is it a system for Kirk Cousins? Tony Romo, I know he’s still a Pro Bowl quarterback.”

 

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Fans say ‘In Scot We Trust,’ but Bruce Allen is still calling Redskins’ shots



By Jerry Brewer ColumnistFebruary 22 at 6:39 AM


Scot McCloughan isn’t the general manager you perceive him to be. That is neither his fault nor an evaluation of his job performance over two years with the Washington Redskins. It is frankly an inconvenient truth that explains the franchise’s latest dysfunctional look.

While it may appear that Washington is distancing itself from its personnel chief in both obvious and dastardly ways, it would be characterized more properly as putting McCloughan in his place. Either way, it’s silly and petty posturing, but it’s important to understand that McCloughan isn’t necessarily losing power as much as he is having his lack of power revealed. It means that, despite the hope and trust he has inspired in helping guide the team to back-to-back winning seasons, the notion that McCloughan had the clout to live up to the “In Scot We Trust” fan mantra was a sham. It was a mirage that Washington let exist because it made people happy and renewed interest in the team after it posted a combined 7-25 record the two years before McCloughan arrived.

In reality, team president Bruce Allen has always been in charge. McCloughan was brought in to be a super scout to restock the roster, but in terms of lasting influence, his job was structured for disposablility.

Over the past few weeks, you’ve seen signs of this, as Allen has kept McCloughan from talking to the media even during innococuous, obligatory situations such as at the Senior Bowl. And then there’s the much wilder story involving Chris Cooley, the former tight end and current radio host and color analyst, who wondered aloud recently on ESPN 980 whether McCloughan had been drinking again.

Three key decisions the Redskins must make this offseason

Redskins reporter Master Tesfatsion breaks down the Washington Redskins offseason priorities. (Thomas Johnson/The Washington Post)
McCloughan’s past bouts with alcohol led to him exiting jobs in San Francisco and Seattle. So the accusation from Cooley, who is very good at his job and thorough in his work, was vicious and reckless if, as he suggested, they were just off-the-cuff remarks. His close ties with the franchise make his thoughts seem more sinister — was it planted material aimed to reduce McCloughan’s popularity? But even if you take Cooley at his word and consider it a breathless, random act, there’s still a problem when considering how the team reacted to it.

[Analysis: Redskins’ offseason better improve, or everything could unravel next year]

Washington did nothing.

No public admonishing of Cooley’s comments. No statement defending McCloughan. No known punishment of Cooley. Crickets. Pathetic. Shameful.

That can mean one of just two things: Cooley was too close to the truth, or Allen didn’t care that McCloughan received the negative publicity.

Even during good times, Allen hasn’t liked that McCloughan is cast as a savior changing the culture of the organization and erasing the many mistakes of the past. McCloughan has deflected praise consistently, but in every sports franchise, it’s easy for jealousy to infect the environment because breakthroughs require a massive group effort regardless of whose vision is being followed. It’s especially easy when a team has enjoyed as little success as Washington has the past two decades.

[Mailbag: If Redskins want a Kirk Cousins extension, first they must use franchise tag]

How the Redskins-Kirk Cousins contract negotiations could play out

Here are the various contract options for Kirk Cousins and the Washington Redskins. (Thomas Johnson/The Washington Post)
Allen, whose responsibilities within the organization have increased despite his uneven performance, hired McCloughan for support. He didn’t want a replacement, and despite being criticized for the team’s poor play, he didn’t exactly want a new direction. He wanted an ace in the room to make everyone look better. But Allen didn’t want to cede control.

McCloughan is essentially as powerful as Allen wishes him to be. Even though McCloughan technically has final say on personnel matters, he still has to go through Allen to get deals completed, which is one way to limit the GM’s power. Even though McCloughan would be Coach Jay Gruden’s boss in a normal organizational structure, he doesn’t have the authority to fire Gruden or anyone on the coaching staff. Gruden and McCloughan report directly to Allen. They are, in essence, on the same shelf.

McCloughan runs the show — with Allen’s old scouting department. McCloughan flirted with adding a few of his own folks, but nothing came of it. So his challenge was to teach a team he didn’t put together his talent-evaluating tricks, to make them see what he sees, rather than create a staff that he knew he could manage.

As Washington constructed the roster the past two seasons, Allen overruled a few key decisions that McCloughan and Gruden wanted to make, according to people with knowledge of the team. Allen proved to be right on a couple of those moves. Other times, he hindered progress. But the ultimate point is this: If you thought McCloughan’s presence served as a shield from upper-management meddling. . . . Well, this franchise will never work that way.

[Chris Cooley speculates on-air about Scot McCloughan: ‘Is he drinking?’]

The good news is that this structure has produced two winning records and put the team within striking distance of building a sustainable contender. On the other hand, Washington seemingly has been in turmoil since collapsing at the end of last season and missing the playoffs. And now, in a crucial offseason, a lack of cohesion could hinder the team’s chances to nail a few tough decisions, most notably Kirk Cousins’s contract situation.

The franchise can go in either direction right now. It is a few good decisions from being a 10-win team for several seasons. And it is a few misguided decisions from sinking back to 5-11 territory.

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It would help public confidence if McCloughan could share his vision for improving the defense and tweaking an offense on the verge of greatness. But he’s being pushed to the background right now, under fire to have a great draft and free agency after a lackluster showing last year.

In the big picture, that’s not a terrible thing. Many NFL GMs talk as little as possible. But with Washington, there is always more to the story, and this time, it’s an admission of what many of what many hoped wouldn't be true.

For all his talent, McCloughan is limited in what he can do within this organization. He took a job with an inflated title at a time when he had little negotiating leverage because of past mistakes. Although he has made an impact, it’s hard to be a savior under those conditions.

It was a fairytale that couldn’t last: A troubled yet genius talent evaluator joins the NFL’s most arrogantly inept franchise, redeems himself, resurrects the team’s past glory and skips off into the sunset, having changed the hearts and minds of many. That’s how hope embellished the possibilities.

In reality, however, McCloughan is a human, flawed like us all, who took a good job that he couldn’t be sure would come along again. And fanciful tales don’t come cloaked in burgundy and gold.

 

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Josh Doctson is looking good.