Washington shouldn’t need 5 more games to decide what to do about Kirk Cousins

Kirk Cousins has started 52 games over six seasons with the Washington NFL team. But the team reportedly needs to see him start a few more before they’ll decide whether to franchise tag him yet again for 2018, according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.

Cousins’ response to that?

“If you still need five more games, or five-plus, to make a decision, so be it, but I’d like to think that I’ve played a lot of football here,” Cousins said on his weekly appearance on 106.7 The Fan.

This season, Cousins has thrown for 3,038 yards with 19 touchdowns and just six interceptions. He’s done that despite injury after injury to key offensive starters all season, including:

Somehow Cousins has still found a way to rack up 276.2 yards per game, which is second only to Tom Brady this season.

The Eagles are running away with the NFC East, but Washington is 5-6 and still in the mix for a wild card spot. Cousins’ play has a lot to do with that.

Washington has a few options for how to handle Cousins’ future with the team beyond this season. It can apply the transition tag, which would cost the team just under $29 million next year. But according to Rapoport, that’s not something Washington will consider.

The team could give Cousins the franchise tag for a third consecutive season but that would cost an eye-popping $35.5 million. Right now, Matthew Stafford is the highest-paid quarterback in the league with a contract that averages $27 million a year.

It seems absurd that Washington would pay Cousins that amount of money when it could have signed him to a long-term deal for a much more reasonable price instead of tagging him the past two offseasons. But another franchise tag is apparently on the table.

Washington could also let Cousins walk in free agency and just start over at the quarterback position.

Cousins isn’t fazed by that.

“I’m gonna do my best,” he said. “It isn’t the first time. I’ve been told, ‘Hey. Go prove it. Go show us what you’ve got.’ That’s kind of been the theme, so, in that sense, it’s welcome territory and we look forward to these five games and seeing what we can do as a team.”

What’s still unclear is why Washington hasn’t already signed Cousins to a long-term deal. He’s started every single game for Washington over the past three seasons, and he’s finished each year with a quarterback rating in the top 10.

Cousins has already proven to Washington that he’s a quality starting quarterback. There’s not much more the team can learn about him over the next few games that it wouldn’t already know.