Since the Washington Redskins acquired Alex Smith from the Kansas City Chiefs, the spotlight has been directly on Kirk Cousins' impending free agency. One of the teams expected to make a hard run at him on the open market is that New York Jets.

With that in mind, Cousins gave some life to the possibility that he could sign with New York after praising their new offensive coordinator Jeremy Bates on Friday. From Rich Cimini of ESPN:

Prospective free agent Kirk Cousins, appearing on ESPN's “NFL Live,” gave his assessment of the Jets as a potential landing spot. “With the Jets, the first thing that stands out is Jeremy Bates has a connection to coach [Mike] Shanahan,” he said. “Both Mike, Kyle [Shanahan], that whole system I played in. Sean McVay comes from that tree. I just think so highly of them as playcallers, as offensive gurus if you will. Because Jeremy comes from that tree, it would be exciting to think about working with someone like that, knowing how important Xs and Os and game planning is and having the right play caller.”

Bates spent three seasons under former Mike Shanahan with the Denver Broncos, holding the positions of offensive assistant, quarterbacks coach, and wide receivers coach. This provided him with the opportunity to learn the offensive system that is run throughout the league that he will likely institute as the offensive coordinator with the Jets.

This connection alone could be huge in helping Cousins warm up to the idea of possibly signing with the Jets. The team already possesses the financial room to offer him a lucrative deal with more than $72 million in salary cap space. It's just be a matter of him buying into what the Jets are selling on the football side.

That said, there will be several other teams in the mix for his services, such as the Denver Broncos, Arizona Cardinals, Buffalo Bills, Jacksonville Jaguars, and possibly the Minnesota Vikings. This only further underlines the tough decision Cousins has to make in the coming weeks.