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The New York Jets have been strongly linked with quarterback Kirk Cousins over the last few days. Reports have come out that they would be willing to pay “whatever it takes” to bring Cousins to New York, even if it means paying him $60 million for the first year of his deal.
However, Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News says that while the Jets have made Cousins a top priority and would love to sign him this offseason, they are not going to go crazy just to get him on the team.
The notion that the organization will go to any lengths to sign him is patently false. There’s a difference between making a strong and aggressive move for a player (aka – an all-in mindset) and actually recklessly overspending. The Jets aren’t going to hand Cousins a blank check, according to team sources.
Mehta goes on to report that the Jets are not willing to absorb a $60 million cap hit for Cousins in 2018 as previously reported, nor are they willing to sign him to a fully-guaranteed four- to five-year deal.
The Jets haven’t been a well-run franchise for some time now. They have proven over the years that they're more than capable of making some head-scratching decisions. But if this particular report is true, then their stance to not pay over the odds for Cousins is a sensible one.
While they would love to get Cousins and will be in a strong position to make him a competitive offer in line with other top quarterbacks, he doesn’t seem like the quarterback that’s worth paying historic money just to acquire. The Jets can still address their big need at quarterback on the cheap via the draft in the event that they miss out on Cousins. That would also allow them to use all their cap space in different ways.
