Former NFL teammates on different career paths
While Cousins is firmly entrenched as a star, Griffin is looking for work
The NFL careers of Robert Griffin III and Kirk Cousins must be undeniably, mechanically linked somehow, like pistons to a crankshaft.
One’s career fortunes can’t seem to ascend to glory without the other’s simultaneous plunge to indignity at equal speed.
The pair entered the NFL together five years ago on the same club, the Washington Redskins. The can’t-miss glamour boy, Griffin, soaked up maybe too much of the accolades as he rocketed upward to apparent superstardom and rookie-of-the-year honours, while Cousins had to shelve his pro starting aspirations upon dropping out of sight as one of RG3’s two insurance-policy backups.
Then the sudden spark, explosion, and turnaround.
RG3 infamously mangled his left knee in a January 2013 playoff game, and the Griffin/Cousins pistons have been driving, supercharged, in opposite directions since.
Friday afternoon offered the latest, dramatic, coinciding proof.
First, Cousins — Washington’s starting quarterback the past two seasons — grudgingly signed his second consecutive franchise tag that will pay him a guaranteed US$23.9 million in 2017. That, again, puts off the monster longterm contract Cousins so desperately seeks, and so many believe he has now earned, after he had one of the most prolific seasons by a passer in team history in 2016. In contrast, Griffin was cut Friday by the Cleveland Browns. Cleveland signed him a year ago, after Washington cut him on the heels of three seasons of successively less effective, less dynamic, increasingly tentative play. What’s next for both men? Cousins, beyond frustrated Washington won’t sign him longterm, reportedly has requested to be traded. Who could blame the 28-year-old? His top two wideouts, DeSean Jackson and Pierre Garcon, have signed elsewhere as free agents, as have a couple of other top players from the 2016 team. And Washington just fired GM Scot McCloughan on Thursday night. Team turmoil as usual under owner Dan Snyder’s reign.
Cousins can be traded now that he has signed his second franchise tag deal in as many years. His former offensive co-ordinator in Washington from 2012-13, Kyle Shanahan, is now head coach of the San Francisco 49ers and apparently covets Cousins. Griffin, meantime, is flung onto the heap of mediocre free agent QB discards, hoping to land a starter’s job with one of the few NFL clubs still in search of one.
It’s hard not to conclude this piston has blown.
MARTELLUS A PACKER
If there was one monster transaction on Day 2 of the new league year, it was TE Martellus Bennett signing with the Green Bay Packers.
PackersGMTedThompsonmost years is criticized for failing to sign big-buzz impact free agents. But sometimes he does, such as OLB Julius Peppers in 2014. Or CB/S Charles Woodson in 2006.
Add Bennett and his out-sized personality in 2017. He was an impact performer with the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots this past season, and proved especially valuable after Rob Gronkowski was lost to a back injury, finishing the season with 55 catches for seven touchdowns.
This is Bennett’s fifth team (Cowboys, Giants, Bears, Patriots). Terms of his contract were not immediately reported. You can bet it’s for a stack of millions.
TRADES
New England might have lost Bennett, but their agreed-to trade for Indianapolis TE Dwayne Allen went through. And Friday night they pulled the trigger on a bigger trade with New Orleans.
Reports said the Patriots acquired speedster WR Brandin Cooks (a 2014 first-round pick) plus the Saints’ fourth-round pick, in exchange for the Pats’ first-rounder (32nd overall) and third-rounder. Yes, the offensively rich just got richer.
The Patriots also acquired DE Kony Ealy plus a 2017 third-round draft pick in a trade with Carolina, in exchange for New England’s 2017 second-rounder.
Miami acquired DE William Hayes and a 2017 seventh-round pick in a trade with the L.A. Rams, for a 2017 sixth-rounder.
FREE AGENT SIGNINGS
A.J. Bouye, the top free-agent CB, left Houston for Jacksonville, for a reported US$67.5 million over four years … WR Terrelle Pryor left Cleveland for Washington … OLB Julius Peppers left Green Bay for Carolina … Pro Bowl LB Lawrence Timmons left Pittsburgh for Miami. Oakland S Nate Allen did likewise … OT Matt Kalil left Minnesota and joins his brother, C Ryan Kalil, in Carolina … OLB John Simon left Houston for Indy, and OLB Jabaal Sheard left New England for Indy … OT Riley Reiff left Detroit for Minnesota … CB Prince Amukamara left Jacksonville for Chicago … DE Cornelius Washington left Chicago for Detroit ... WR Charles Johnson left Minnesota for Carolina … DT Akeem Spence left Tampa Bay for Detroit … WR Russell Shepard left Tampa Bay for Carolina … C/G Ted Larsen left Chicago for Miami … S Mike Adams left Indianapolis for Carolina … LB Paul Worrilow left Atlanta for Detroit … PK Phil Dawson left San Francisco for Arizona … P Jeff Locke left Minnesota for Indy.
EXTRA POINTS
NFL Network’s Mike Mayock denied an ESPN report, saying in a statement he hasn’t talked to Washington about filling their GM vacancy … TE Jordan Cameron (Cleveland, Miami) retired after his fourth concussion … Baltimore cut DB Lardarius Webb … Green Bay re-signed T/G Don Barclay … Buffalo cut S Corey Graham … Indy cut CB Patrick Robinson … TE Dennis Pitta finally agreed to a reworked deal with Baltimore.