This is one entry in a six-part series about where Kirk Cousins will land as a free agent for the 2018 season.
Two-toned helmets aside, Jacksonville is the perfect destination for Captain Kirk’s final frontier.
One of the problems with the Kirk Cousins era in Washington is that too often he was asked to carry the team by himself. Even if Cousins was a slam dunk, no-brainer of a franchise quarterback, the 2017 Redskins had no real chance at the postseason. Most NFL quarterbacks simply can’t deliver a team with no defense, no rushing attack, and an oft-injured top receiving option (and in 2017, no offensive line or consistent threat at wide receiver) to the playoffs. Just ask Drew Brees circa 2014-16 or Eli Manning basically any year after Super Bowl XLVI.
That said, all the things the Redskins lack are present and accounted for in Jacksonville, where stud rookie running back Leonard Fournette and the league’s best defense reside. That team is just a quarterback away from being a legit Super Bowl contender, and just old enough to want to get a veteran QB to take them to the Promised Land, rather than roll the dice on a rookie.
Plus, a lucrative deal for Cousins won’t necessarily blow out their salary structure. The Jaguars are projected to have close to $16.4 million in cap space in 2018 and, as I said earlier in the season, the Jags can clear $19 million more by simply cutting incumbent scrub…I mean, starter…Blake Bortles.
I know Cousins threw for just 158 yards and three picks in his Redskins finale, but that’s considered standard operating procedure for Bortles, the crowned king of the pick-six (nobody has thrown more picks than Bortles — 64 — since he came into the league in 2014). Cousins represents a significant enough upgrade for a team that’s otherwise very good to justify the financial gamble on a QB who is, at the very least, an established and competent starter.
The case for the…
Arizona Cardinals | Cleveland Browns
Denver Broncos | New York Jets | Washington Redskins
