The Washington Redskins started the offseason by essentially revealing the solution to their quarterback conundrum with Kirk Cousins. Needless to say, Cousins was not the only one surprised by Washington's trade for Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith.

Running back Chris Thompson had become one of Cousins' closest friends and teammates over the last four seasons. During an appearance on ESPN 980 with Cooley and Sheehan, Thompson admitted that the quarterback was a bit non-committal about his future in Washington:

“I think everybody got some mixed messages; I will say that,” Thompson said. “I know for me, talking to Kirk, being with Kirk, all we talked about was, you know, ‘C.T., with you staying healthy, we can do this with you; we can do that with you,’ and we were able to do a lot of the things that Kirk wanted to do with me.

“We wanted to continue this, so for me, I expected him to be here. I knew it would be hard given that we want to win, but if you pay a guy [$30 million] a year, it’s going to sacrifice some other things as well, as far as helping our defense out, maybe getting some more receivers, or running backs and all those type of things.

“It’s kind of hard to say. I think everybody got a different feel about it, but I know Kirk enjoyed being with me, and I enjoyed being with him, so I wanted him to be here and I think part of him wanted to be here, but at the end of the day, you gotta do whatever you think is best for you and your family.”

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There is certainly plenty of truth to Thompson's comments. To be fair, there seemed to be mixed messages from all sides, including head coach Jay Gruden. Although Gruden had been adamant about wanting Cousins for the long-haul, he indicated that it would only be for the right price.

However, Cousins has no doubt that he can be offered top-tier money elsewhere given his resume. The former fourth-rounder just finished his third consecutive season with 4,000 passing yards despite all the injuries his team suffered in 2017. Given all the quarterback-hungry teams on the precipice of a serious playoff run, Cousins will soon be the most highly-sought after free agent on the market.