Kirk Cousins and Redskins unlikely to agree to long-term contract by Friday

In the other seven times in which a team used the franchise tag on a quarterback, the sides agreed to a deal by the deadline. He’ll be the first quarterback to play on the franchise tag since Drew Brees with the San Diego Chargers in 2005.

All four of those players will do well this season, and they can do even better next season: In 2017 they either get the franchise tag again, which guarantees them a 20 percent pay raise, or they hit true unrestricted free agency and find out what they’re really worth on the free market. That’s pretty cool. That’s what we need, we need those types of guys.

In his first full season as a starter, Cousins threw for 4,166 yards, 29 touchdowns and only 11 interceptions while leading the National Football League with a completion percentage of 69.8. “That’s what we keep preaching and what we’re going to keep preaching, but yes, we want [Kirk] here”.

Not many people actually expected this deal to get done, but it’s now official, no long-term deal for Kirk Cousins this year.

Cousins and his agent know that he will drive up his asking price if he plays well in 2016.

During the team’s final stretch, he was selected as NFC Offensive Player of the Month, which also included Week 17 action in early January, accumulating 13 touchdowns an d just one interception while also rushing for touchdowns in back-to-back games against the Chicago Bears and Buffalo Bills.

“I’ll let my play do the talking”, Cousins said in May. “He just wants to play football and he figures the rest of it will take care of itself, and that’s how I look at it”.

The Redskins and Cousins have said the right things this offseason, not turning the negotiations into an acrimonious situation. “The two sides won’t be reaching a long-term deal before the July 15 deadline.” .

Cousins validated that support with a 24-point comeback victory in what Gruden had famously labeled a “code red” game, kick-starting a late-season push to the NFC East title.