Schefter: Redskins considering using franchise tag on Kirk Cousins

Recently, we’ve heard quite a bit about the Minnesota Vikings’ potential interest in quarterback Kirk Cousins, who everyone has assumed to this point was going to be hitting the free agent market. After all, the Redskins have already announced that they’re trading cornerback Kendall Fuller and a third-round pick to the Kansas City Chiefs for quarterback Alex Smith, as well as giving Smith an extension in the neighborhood of $24 million/year.

Now, there’s at least a rumor going around that the Redskins, despite that trade, are prepared to do something that could probably be described as “monumentally idiotic.”

Adam Schefter is reporting that, despite the Alex Smith trade, the Redskins are still contemplating placing the franchise tag on Cousins again in the hopes that they can trade him to recoup some of the losses from the Smith deal.

Because of the rules of the franchise tag and the fact that the team has already used it on Cousins twice in the past, the franchise tag figure for Cousins would soar to about $34 million if Washington were to tag him. I’m not sure about Cousins’ mentality about such a thing, but if someone was going to give me $34 million simply for slapping my name on a piece of paper, I wouldn’t be able to sign that bad boy quickly enough.

If Cousins were to sign a potential franchise tag and the Redskins were to go through with the Smith trade, they’d have nearly $60 million tied up in the quarterback position for this season. That’s ridiculous, and would absolutely hamstring their ability to really do anything else with their roster.

If Washington thinks they’re trading Cousins away after tagging him, I’m pretty sure that nobody is paying $34 million for one year of Kirk Cousins with no long-term deal in place. That would also be absolutely bonkers.

I’m not sure if the front office in Washington is actually contemplating this, but if they did go through with this plan, I honestly don’t see any way that it ends well for them. But, Daniel Snyder gonna Daniel Snyder, so we’ll see what happens.