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Pro Bowl quarterback Kirk Cousins appears to be headed toward his first official free agent experience in his NFL. However, it's rumored that the Washington Redskins could prevent that from happening for a third straight season by placing the franchise tag on him again, hoping to get some assets in return.
This is something that Cousins is ready to counteract, as he won't stand down and let the team dictate his future. Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated is reporting that the 29-year-old will file a grievance to block the designation.
“By the way, if the Redskins attempt to franchise Cousins, my understanding is that his camp will quickly file a grievance to block tag, based on Washington violating the spirit of the rules, which dictate that players are tagged as a mechanism for teams to buy time in getting a long-term deal done.”
This legal action could foreseeably work well in Cousins' favor as the team certainly has no intention in bringing him aboard long-term after trading for fellow Pro Bowl quarterback Alex Smith and signing him a four-year, $94 million extension shortly thereafter.
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The Redskins are simply hoping to acquire additional assets and in a sense control where the seventh-year quarterback plays next season, likely outside of the NFC so they don't have to worry facing him (as often).
At this point, it is farfetched to believe that Washington would commit to going through with that given that it would require them to commit more than $30 million of their projected $48.9 million in salary cap space to him before the start of the free agency period. This could prevent them from making any significant free agent signing and keeping some of their key players that will hit the open market.
If anything, this is something that should be kept an eye on over the next few weeks ahead of the free agency period, as the Redskins can use the franchise tag starting on Feb. 20 on through March 6.
