Kirk Cousins: Power Ranking His 5 Likeliest Landing Spots

The Alex Smith trade just made the 2018 free agency period must-see TV for a lot of NFL fans. That’s because of the now unknown fate of Kirk Cousins.

It was becoming clear the Washington Redskins were either unwilling or unable to reach a long-term agreement with Cousins after three years of negotiating. Nobody knows for sure where the hangup is. Are the Redskins unwilling to pay him top quarterback money or does Cousins just not want to play in Washington? There are any number of possibilities at this point. In the end no one may know the total truth about it. What’s clear is a Pro Bowl quarterback is about to hit the open market for the first time in years.

Cousins is coming off a highly productive three-year stretch in Washington. From 2015 to 2017 he led them to a playoff appearance and two winning seasons. Over that span he topped 4,000 yards passing each year with 81 touchdown passes and just 34 interceptions. Not bad for a former 4th round pick who spent the first three years of his career as a backup. There’s no question he’s set to make a ton of money this March.

It’s a matter of who will win the sweepstakes for his services. Here are the five teams to watch in order of most likely to do so.

#5:  Buffalo Bills

They may not be atop the list, but they can’t be excluded either. The Buffalo Bills made the playoffs last year and did it with Tyrod Taylor at quarterback. It’s fair to wonder how much better their offense could be with a more traditional passer like Cousins pulling the trigger. Hopefully better than three points in a playoff game. They have good pieces on offense and a strong defense in place with a wealth of draft picks to help improve on it this off-season. They have $29 million in cap space with the ability to create more. Don’t ignore them.

#4:  Cleveland Browns

Everybody will say there’s no way this happens. It’s the Browns. Why on earth would Cousins leave Washington for Cleveland? That’s basically going from bad to worse. The answer isn’t hard to decipher. People like money and the Browns have the second-most cap space going into this off-season at a whopping $109 million. If they wanted to they could go up to Cousins with a simple pitch, “We’ll make you the highest-paid QB in football.” That’s in excess of $27 million per year. Combined with their wealth of high draft picks, Cousins might see a bright future just around the corner if he took that leap.

#3:  New York Jets

Having over $70 million in cap space is a great way to start but the Jets would need more than that in order to have a genuine shot. It seems they may have an ace up their sleeve. That’s offensive assistant coach Jeremy Bates. Apparently Cousins has a healthy respect for the longtime quarterbacks coach. Something that started back when Cousins was drafted in 2012. The Jets are in good position to rebuild their roster quickly provided they can find an answer at quarterback. They have a good defense in place. Cousins might be the lynch pin to a rapid retooling.

#2:  Minnesota Vikings

People will scoff at this idea at first. Why would the Vikings consider Cousins when they already have Case Keenum, Teddy Bridgewater and Sam Bradford? The simplest answer is all three of those men are about to become free agents as well. Minnesota has loads of cap space ($53 million) and a Super Bowl-ready roster as proven by their NFC championship appearance this season. With Pat Shurmur gone there’s no guarantee Keenum will be the same player he was if brought back. Cousins has fewer question marks about him and could be what they’re missing.

Next: 2018 NFL Mock Draft: Kirk Cousins Creates Quarterback Scramble

#1:  Denver Broncos

John Elway is running the team, which means he understands how to conduct a franchise through the eyes of a quarterback. He knows how to speak their language too. Elway already made this sort of successful sale pitch before back in 2012 with Peyton Manning. That went quite well for Denver. There’s no reason to think he can’t do it again. The Broncos still have a good defense, an emerging left tackle and should be able to quickly reloading their receiving corps. Most importantly they have the means to create vast amounts of cap space if need be to meet the price tag.