At least he has more track record than Rob Johnson. Or Kolb.
When the guy get paid, it will be because of outside market forces. 17, 18 mil a year, not because he is great, but because the Texans, Rams, Eagles, etc will pay him even more.
I really kind of like that the franchise tag can be a punishment for teams that don't extend up and comers soon enough. Vets hate the the tag, not enough guaranteed money in that single year, but for a guy like Cousins the tag is a good way to leverage guaranteed money out of a team. A 4th rounder who had to climb out from under a first rounder's shadow, who will laugh at the team saying they couldn't extend him sooner because they did not know what they had in him until they saw it on the field, who they simply cannot let hit free agency because he will be paid by someone else, getting the franchise tag? That is a team punishment. Should not have dicked around with with RGIII as long as you did, or should have signed Cousins to a more team friendly deal with 5 or 6 games left last year. His value has damn near doubled since then.
The franchise tag isn't just a a one year punishment either. You can't tag a guy one year without being willing to tag him for a 2nd, at least hypothetically and from a negotiating stance. His agent now is going to baseline that huge guaranteed number, what is it, like 40 million or more, as the minimum for a 3 year deal.
The only advantage the Skins have now is that if they actually have to apply the tag, but it does not result in a long term deal, and he has a shitty year, they can be rid of him with no future cap hit. But then they become the Texans, at best, a team on the rise, but wandering in the NFL QB desert.
I still think they get a deal done, but it is going to be a very good one for Cousins.
