GANG HAVE BIG GREEN SET FOR KIRK
Jets will go big, possibly pay Cousin $60M in first year alone
The bidding for Kirk Cousins’ services officially begins in three weeks. On March 12, NFL teams can begin to speak with the agents representing this year’s free-agent class.
Cousins is at the top of that list, and expect the Jets to be one of the first teams to call his agent, Mike McCartney. League sources believe the Jets are going to be particularly aggressive in their pursuit, willing to spend big bucks in the hope that the soon-to-be former Redskin can be the franchise quarterback they have been searching for all these years.
The view around the league is that the Jets’ main issue regarding Cousins won’t be money, but whether he wants to play for them after saying winning was his priority
While March 12 is the official opening of the window when teams and agents can talk, the unofficial negotiating period happens next week in Indianapolis at the NFL Scouting Combine. Technically, teams and agents are not allowed to speak about free agents other than their own, but the hotels, bars and restaurants in Indy are filled with winks, nods and more as teams begin to line up their free-agent targets. Players can’t officially sign their contracts until March 14.
McCartney represents both Cousins and Josh McCown, the Jets’ own pending free agent, so the Jets likely have a meeting scheduled with him to discuss McCown in Indianapolis where the topic of Cousins could come up.
The Jets are viewed as the favorites to land Cousins by many around the NFL because of the financial flexibility they have. The Jets are currently projected to have $73.2 million in salary-cap space, according to overthecap.com. They cleared an additional $4.6 million by declining to pick up their $500,000 option on backup tackle Ben Ijalana on Monday, making him a free agent. They can add to that with the expected cuts of Muhammad Wilkerson and Matt Forte, which would push the cap space to $92 million.
The only other team expected to be a suitor for Cousins with more projected cap space than the Jets is the Browns ($110 million).
The Jets could get creative with their contract offer to Cousins with all of that cap space. The expectation is he is going to exceed the $27.5 million per year that the 49ers just gave Jimmy Garoppolo. Many people think that could mean a five-year, $150 million contract with a good chunk of that guaranteed. One league source speculated the Jets could front-load the contract and offer Cousins $60 million guaranteed in the first year of the contract. That would still leave them with about $30 million in cap space this year and then allow them to build around Cousins with lower cap figures in the remaining years of the contract. Pro Football Talk reported they spoke to people who believe the Jets might be willing to guarantee the entire contract, something unheard of in the NFL for long-term deals.
Finances won’t be the biggest hurdle for the Jets. Selling Cousins that they can be a contender quickly will be. Jets general manager Mike Maccagnan is going to have to do a good recruiting job.
Cousins said in several interviews at the Super Bowl that he wants to go where he can win. That has led to many people viewing the Broncos as a favorite to land him.
But the Broncos are going to have to make a bunch of moves to clear the cap space to make a run at him. They are currently projected to have $26.8 million in space. There is also a question of how good the Broncos truly are. They had the same 5-11 record as the Jets last season and many of their stars are getting older.
Some people believe the Vikings are the contending team that could make a run at Cousins. They are projected to have $49 million in cap space and Case Keenum, Teddy Bridgewater and Sam Bradford are all scheduled to be free agents. The Vikings made it to the NFC Championship game last season and they could view Cousins as the piece to put them into the Super Bowl.
The Jets’ sales pitch (besides the money) will be they can build around him, adding to the core they feel they have already started to build. He also is familiar with new offensive coordinator Jeremy Bates, who worked for Mike Shanahan, the coach who drafted Cousins in Washington.
The Cousins sweepstakes are about to begin. Can the Jets walk away as the winner?