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Heading into the offseason, Pro Bowl quarterback Kirk Cousins is set to be one of the most targeted free agents on the open market.
There has been some chatter about the Washington Redskins possibly placing the franchise tag on Cousins for the third straight year. In wake of that, the 29-year-old is reportedly prepared to file for a grievance if that is the plan of action by the organization.
Cousins could also have the CBA on his side as Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk pointed out that there is a section that would support his push to block the franchise tag due to the Redskins' lack of intention to keep him aboard past the 2018 campaign.
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Actually, Cousins’ case would be far stronger than that, with the muscle coming not from the inherently ambiguous “spirit of the rules” but on the plain language of them. Article 4, Section 8, subsection (b) of the Collective Bargaining Agreement says this: “A Club extending a Required Tender must, for so long as that Tender is extended, have a good faith intention to employ the player receiving the Tender at the Tender compensation level during the upcoming season.”
In English, when a team applies the franchise tender, the team must intend to employ the player at the amount of the franchise tender for the upcoming season. With Washington already planning to trade for, and to extend the contract of, Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith, there’s no way that Washington intends to employ Cousins at $34.47 million for 2018.
In essence, the possible reasoning behind the franchise tag from the Redskins would not to work toward a long-term extension to make him their signal caller for the next several seasons. Instead, it would keep him on the roster in order to fetch additional assets and not be left empty-handed with him departing in free agency.
Washington has already moved forward with Alex Smith holding that spot after he was acquired a few weeks ago from the Kansas City Chiefs and signed him a four-year, $94 million extension shortly thereafter. All of this should make way for Cousins to finally become a free agent and dictate the next chapter of his career.
