The Washington Redskins failed to achieve one of their biggest offseason goals, which was to sign quarterback Kirk Cousins to a long-term contract. Now, they go into the season hoping they can figure out how to keep Cousins on the team for longer than another year. If you want to bet on the Redskins this season, check out the 2017 football odds for Washington Redskins.
After the team was unable to reach a long-term deal with Cousins, the team issued a statement in which they said they offered the quarterback a $53 million deal but they didn’t get a response from Cousins or any of his reps.
What the team failed to disclose was how long the deal was, which would have shed more light on why Cousins passed up the deal. If the Redskins offered Cousins a seven year deal with $53 million guaranteed, it would make more financial sense to him to turn the offer down since he made that much money off the franchise tag in two years.
Despite the criticism aimed at the Redskins, Cousins told reporters that he turned the team’s offer down because he wanted to follow the plan God laid out for him.
Cousins elaborated by saying his faith was the deciding factor when he turned down the contract offer because God was leading him to make the decision and he wanted to be at peace with the choice he made.
While other players might have jumped at a chance to make the type of money Cousins was offered and have some stability in knowing where they will be for the near future. Money wasn’t a driving factor for Cousins.
The Redskins quarterback recently said he was already comfortable in life because he has earned enough money to take care of his family. He added that the financial freedom is one of the reasons he can afford to be patient and see where God leads him.
Cousins added that God has already done more for him than he could have imagined in his five seasons in Washington, so he doesn’t have any reason not to trust God to continue doing wonders in his life.
While people that don’t follow the Redskins might be surprised about how religious Cousins is, his teammates and those that have been around him know he wears his faith on his sleeves.
In the past, Cousins said he hoped he could be more than a leader of men on the football field, he also wants to lead men to Christ off the field.
With Cousins playing on a one year deal, he wants to see how the Redskins perform this season before committing to a long-term deal with the team. There are also rumors that Cousins will sign with the San Francisco 49ers when he becomes a free agent so he can reunite with Kyle Shanahan, who was his offensive coordinator for two seasons.
With the team losing Pierre Garcon and Desean Jackson, who had over 1,000 receiving yards last year, their offense will likely struggle with former quarterback turned wide receiver Terrell Pryor as the team’s top receiver. If the Redskins fail to make the playoffs again, it is very likely Cousins will leave unless they tag him for a third consecutive year.