Washington quarterback Kirk Cousins has a very smart agent

Washington Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins is one of the most highly valued players in the NFL in terms of money invested. He’s got a really good agent…

Kirk Cousins may have the best agent in the NFL today.

Mike McCartney with Priority Sports & Entertainment is no stranger to the business side of the NFL, and is patiently awaiting perhaps the most pivotal juncture of both his and Cousins’ career.

McCartney is gearing up to negotiate the what could very well be the richest contract for a player in NFL history, now that all quarterbacks are seemingly just leap-frogging one another with their renewed deals.

For at least a year, Cousins will be the last to leap-frog some of these big money signal callers, and he’s going to set the bar very, very high.

Cousins may not be the best quarterback in the NFL, but he’s getting paid like he is. Entering his second straight season on the franchise tag, Cousins will make just under $44 million in fully guaranteed money between the 2016 and 2017 seasons.

There are only two quarterbacks that have received more guaranteed money at signing than Cousins — Matthew Stafford ($50 million) and Eli Manning ($54 million) — who each signed a long-term deal, not the franchise tag. Joe Flacco and Andrew Luck each received $44 million at the time of signing their long-term contracts, which were respectively the richest in NFL history at the time of signing.

Luck received the highest guarantee in NFL history at $87 million, but Stafford’s deal eclipsed it with a whopping $92 million in total guarantees. History is consistently being rewritten.

Cousins could and probably will be set to top that number as well, the way things are moving, and all it took was a little bit of patience.

Prior to the 2016 season, I think even Cousins was a bit surprised the Redskins slapped the franchise tag on him, paying him nearly $20 million. He raced to the team facility to sign that deal. The tag went even higher this season, as Cousins is set to make another (near) $24 million. That number ascends higher yet in 2018 at roughly $27 million.

So, the Redskins can either tag him again this coming offseason at that ridiculous cap figure, fully guaranteed, or Cousins will open up his services to a bunch of teams that will pay top dollar to have him around. Some have already speculated that Cousins will make a move out West to San Francisco, where he’d play for Kyle Shanahan again.

That makes sense, but Cousins could also be a good fit for the Jacksonville Jaguars, or a number of other teams.

By waiting out the rest of the market these past couple of years and just taking the guaranteed franchise tag, Cousins and his agency have increased his value perhaps by nearly $25-30 million in guaranteed cash. Derek Carr received $70 million in guarantees, which is what I’m using as the baseline for the ‘increased value’. It’s entirely possible that Cousins will get $95-100 million in fully guaranteed money with a deal on the open market.

And all he had to do was wait.

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If Cousins has another steady season for the Redskins this year, that’s the type of money he can expect, just based on the current market trends. Now it makes sense why he and his agent haven’t accepted a long-term deal from the Redskins (Cousins was once reportedly offered a deal worth $20M annually, and turned it down), and why they’ve been so willing to accept the franchise tag.

Cousins played on a shorter rookie contract since he wasn’t a first round pick and didn’t have the fifth-year team option. He has made roughly $44 million in guaranteed cash already, and could be in line to make almost $100 million more in guarantees next Spring. How many NFL players have made $144 million in guaranteed money by the age of 30?

Matthew Stafford — who just signed the richest deal in the history of the league — has signed two contracts worth $133.5 million prior to the age of 30.

Matt Ryan won’t re-set the market until 2019, when he’s a UFA. Aaron Rodgers will again top that number in 2020, but for at least a little while, it looks like Cousins will be the highest paid quarterback in the NFL.

And that is why Kirk Cousins has a very smart agent.

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