The-Hogs.net - Washington Football Discussion, Redskins to Commanders Era

Danny Rouhier asked Cousins, who is playing on a one-year contract under the terms of the franchise tag for a second consecutive season, if he ever thinks about the fact that an injury could ruin his chances of signing a long-term deal this offseason. Cousins said some financial advice from Nationals ace Max Scherzer helped put his mind at ease.

“I definitely think about injury and the risk, and every one of us takes a huge risk every time we step out there, but I’ve always made the decision to get that insurance policy and protect myself, so that if anything did happen, I basically can be compensated as if I was still playing,” Cousins said. “That was actually a tip I got from Max Scherzer, because I reached out to him. He was in a similar position in his career, and he said the minute I made that decision to get that insurance policy, once I could step across the white lines, all I had to focus on was winning. And that’s the position I’m in: I can go out there and just focus on winning football games because of what the insurance policy does for you.”

After turning down a six-year, $144 million offer from the Detroit Tigers before the 2014 season, Scherzer, at the advice of his agent, Scott Boras, took out an insurance policy for $750,000. If Scherzer was injured before becoming a free agent after the 2014 season and didn’t receive an offer better than the one he turned down, he would receive a tax-free $40 million payout. Scherzer remained healthy and signed a seven-year, $210 million deal with the Nationals.

“It’s not cheap insurance, but it’s well worth it in the sense that you can’t put a price on peace of mind,” Cousins said. “Certain situations in your career, maybe not every year, but certain situations, it makes sense. I did the research this past offseason, and the last two offseasons.”

Cousins said he followed Scherzer’s career with the Tigers when he was a quarterback at Michigan State.

“I was playing college ball when he was there, and I understood what happened there in Detroit and the decision he made,” Cousins said. “And so I just asked him, ‘How did you process that? How did you handle that?’ He’s a wealth of knowledge and was really helpful and explained to me what he did. I kind of took a similar approach, and I think it’s a good decision to just have peace of mind. His point was, ‘When I pitched for the Tigers, I just focused on winning baseball games. That’s all I had to worry about because of that.’ And I think that was the key and that’s why you get it. If something happens and your career is over, then you would collect. But if your career’s not over and you can keep playing, then you don’t collect. So you basically would like to think that, one way or another, you’re either playing football or sitting at home on your couch injured, you’re able to be in a position to be just fine.”

SkinsJock wrote:ask yourself the question - 'when you consider what has happened, why would I (KC) stay here?'

this franchise has already paid Cousins a lot of money to play QB and if this franchise was considered a good franchise to work for, don't you think that Cousins would say 'give me a fair long term deal and I'll play here' ... there is zero chance of that happening here because there is no chance that this franchise will be a playoff contender each and every season in the near future - really good players on good franchises give their teams a home discount because they want to play in the playoffs - that is not happening here

If Cousins is basically saying that he's not worried about getting injured & is just going out there playing the best he can, then we really don't want to pay him a lot of money - he's clearly proven that he's just a good QB who can put up great stats but does not know how to win