Kirk Cousins May Not Be Primed to Sign a Huge Free Agent Contract

He's the hottest quarterback free agent this year, so he'll get a huge pay day, right? Maybe not.

free agent
Quarterback Kirk Cousins #8 of the Washington Redskins. (Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)

As NFL free agency approaches, it feels like we all know what is going to happen. Kirk Cousins — a true, unrestricted free agent who is pretty young and has experience and a good work ethic — will finally avoid the franchise tag and for the first time in an NFL career that began in 2012, be free to negotiate with all teams. He will sign a crazy contract once the free agency bell rings on March 14, after picking his favorite of multiple bids. But Sports Illustrated writes that this may not happen. Quarterback is the only position in football where one man plays the vast majority of downs. So teams will only pay one player at the quarterback position, unlike other positions that can support more than one upper-range contract. So there are roughly 5-7 potential teams who need a starting quarterback. But two of those teams, Minnesota Vikings and the Jacksonville Jaguars, already have players who they will most likely chose. Then there is Nick Foles, who just won a Super Bowl for the Eagles. One of the five teams left might snap him up, leaving Cousins with only four teams. SI writes that the bigger problem for Cousins is the draft. Will a team spend top-tier free-agent quarterback money on a veteran quarterback in March and then draft his future replacement in April? That is the question, SI writes. In 2016 the Eagles signed incumbent Bradford to a two-year $35 million contract, but then drafted Carson Wentz, making Bradford extraneous. So will Cousins get a huge contract, or bids from multiple teams? We will have to wait and see.

The InsideHook Newsletter.

News, advice and insights for the most interesting person in the room.