Jimmy Garoppolo received a new deal with the 49ers on Thursday that made him the NFL’s highest-paid player. Garoppolo’s five-year deal is worth $137.5 million, according to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo.
Jimmy Garoppolo’s contract is going to make Kirk Cousins a lot of money. But who can pay him?
Cousins won’t be in Washington next season, so where’s he going, and who’s paying up?
Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images
Garoppolo’s deal is big, especially for somebody with seven starts to his name. But having a good franchise quarterback is crucial in today’s NFL, and teams will offer up the money at the scent of having one.
Which brings us to Kirk Cousins. Cousins has gotten the franchise tag from Washington the past two seasons, but won’t likely get a third after Washington just traded for Alex Smith. So Cousins will be a free agent and will reel in a big contract, especially after Garoppolo’s deal.
Let’s look at the five teams, in no particular order, that would make the most sense to sign Cousins.
The Browns already tried to trade for Kirk Cousins last offseason. While that didn’t work out, the Browns managed an 0-16 season and have the top pick in the draft — one that’s filled with quarterback talent.
But they also have the cap space for Cousins. Spotrac has the Browns with over $110 million in cap space, giving them plenty of room to sign the 29-year-old quarterback. While Cousins has said he’d rather be in a winning situation than get the most money, he could be passing up quite the deal from Cleveland.
The Jets might be a tad more realistic than the Browns, simply because they don’t have the No. 1 overall pick. Spotrac has them with $79 million in cap space, which is the third most in the NFL behind Cleveland and San Francisco.
The Jets have the No. 6 pick and could easily take a quarterback there. But they could also use that pick to help get Cousins a weapon in Alabama wideout Calvin Ridley, or Penn State running back Saquon Barkley.
If the Jaguars had a better quarterback, would they have won more games, and even beaten the Patriots in the AFC Championship? Perhaps. There have been reports that the Jaguars would stick with Blake Bortles, but with a quarterback like Cousins available in a win-now league, that seems awfully hard to pass up.
Under their current salary cap, the Jaguars would have some work to do. But they could shed some cap — cutting Bortles would immediately open 1) a spot at quarterback and 2) $19 million. Big Cat Country has all the scenarios, but you get the gist. It’s possible.
Carson Palmer retired, and Drew Stanton and Blaine Gabbert aren’t the future in Glendale. Much like the Jaguars, the Cardinals could easily open up some cap space with a few moves, after having just north of $23 million in cap space, per Spotrac.
This would give Cousins a nice veteran receiver to throw the ball to in Larry Fitzgerald (assuming he doesn’t retire, of course). They wouldn’t have to use their 15th overall pick on a quarterback, allowing former Panthers defensive coordinator and new head coach Steve Wilks to help build up his defense with the pick.
You can’t forget the Broncos. Despite having a good defense this season, Trevor Siemian, Paxton Lynch, and Brock Osweiler were a trio of painful quarterbacks to watch. Cousins would be going into one of the better possible situations in Denver, where the team already has an established defense that’s proven it can win games on its own.
Mile High Report mentions that teams like the Jets could offer more in terms of dollars and cents to Cousins. But there’s no denying that the Broncos would be a better situation for him immediately, and possibly long term. Each season without a quarterback is another season wasted of Von Miller’s career, as well as their defensive backfield known as the “No Fly Zone.”
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