6-7 weeks is a short time to recover from Surgery, he has virtually no chance of passing a physcial by March 14 so his salary will be guaranteed. Would the Vikings choose him over Keenum? Close in age but Keenum would be cheaper and he just led them deep into the playoffs.
Jacksonville is stuck due to Bortles injury. He will not have recovered from his surgery before his contract becomes fully guaranteed, and what cap space they had has been largely eaten up by Telvin Smith's extension and the trade for Dareus. The teams that are realistically in the market cap wise are far and few. While I agree Cousins will be overpaid ( every top FA is) I disagree that the Jets will have to pay more than other teams vying for his services. Of course it's great to draft a QB and have him pan out ,but the odds are much lower. Top 10 QBs rarely hit the FA market, Washington misplayed their hand and drove Cousins contract up to where they can't possibly afford to keep him. Some other team will benefit from their mistake. Actually 2 teams, the Chiefs and who ever signs cousins. While cousins salary will be high, it will be considered low in 2-3 seasons time as the younger QBs receive their second contracts.
Yes exactly you get it and its important for the rest of Jet nation to get it. This type of move helps sell tickets but does no good in getting a championship.
See, you think this because teams are usually cap strapped with other cap burdening players tying up big money. This is a unique situation where the team has plenty of cap and no one on the immediate horizon who will need to be paid top dollar, signing cousins now will not put any real strain on the cap for the next 3 years and by then his contract will seem below market value and if structured right will either still be manageable or have an escape if things didn’t work out. Either way, sign cousins draft a qb it all hinges on getting the draft right around it.
Saying the Jets can’t win a championship with Kirk Cousins is so ridiculous. Now odds are they won’t win a championship because that’s what Jets history says but Kirk Cousins increases the chances the Jets win a championship, not decreases it.
While you are completely correct, I don't see the team improving much with Alex Smith. I think the team losing prime time games is related to their lack of depth and poor drafting, as well as the constant turnover of skill position players. Kirk Cousins had a new receiving core like every year, minus a player or 2.
Mac should be commended for exercising fiscal discipline. The Jets were in a similar position years ago and went free agent shopping. Where did that get them? Its going cost the Jets $30 million a year to get Cousins. He is not worth it. Why not take the 30 million and invest in an offensive line?
What's to say they can't do both. The draft picks it would cost to trade up for a QB could be used to improve the o line and with over 108 million in projected cap space, they can still target an O lineman in free agency and be up around the top 2-3 in terms of available cap space. Cousins would eat roughly 18 million this season, ( figure he gets around $28 million per year) a portion of this year's salary would be included in his signing bonus. Very common practice. That would leave $90 million in available cap space. A center if available 10-12 million , Ziggy Ansah another $10, RB like McKinnon $8 million.That leaves $60 million plus that can be carried over and allow complete flexibility in the Draft. As far as whether or not cousins is worth it, that is the current market value and will seem like a bargain come the last 3 years of his deal as the next wave of QBs set the market after each signing.
