Kirk Cousins Has No Option But to Stay in DC

The Kirk Cousins Saga will come to its glorious zenith once the Redskins finish their season against the Giants this Sunday and he is allowed to begin free agent negotiations.  In the DC area, the conjecture surrounding the fate of Kirk Cousins over the past three seasons has only been eclipsed by the theories surrounding Game of Thrones and The Last Jedi, and this season the maelstrom of rumors has been centered on what Kirk has said over the past three months regarding his status with the Redskins organization.  But this approach only looks at what Kirk has said to the detriment of looking at what kind of person Kirk is.  A great Spots Illustrated article by Greg Bishop gives a good glimpse at Cousins's personality and it is very telling.  He is someone who face timed into a QB meeting from the delivery room of a hospital while his son was being born.  He has his day planned out in 15 minute increments.  He has a brain coach.  Cousins is someone who is overly regimented and draws his energy from the process he uses to get himself into peak performance.  So why would Cousins mess that process up by going somewhere else?  And, more importantly, would those situations be any better suited to his process or psyche than staying in DC?  Lets look at all possible suitors by breaking them into categories and showing why the alternatives leave Cousins with no option but to stay with the Redskins.

Category 1: The Ghosts of RGIII (Denver, Cleveland, Buffalo)

These teams seem promising for Cousins, but all of them would more than likely carry an incumbent QB into the 2018 season that may have Cousins needing 10 hours of sleep a night in his hyperbaric 

chamber to keep his beta levels in order (read the SI article).  Does Cousins want the Ghost of RGIII looking over his shoulder again?  For all of Denver's upsides they will probably hold on to Paxton Lynch for this year considering he has a $4 Million dead cap hit, and they may want to keep an insurance policy.  Cleveland will probably hold on to Deshone Kizer for the same reason, and because he is only finishing his rookie season.  Tyrod Taylor carries an extra $10 Million in dead cap money until 2021 if he is not on the roster after the 2018 season so it can be assumed that the Bills would want to keep him for next year and beyond.  Cousins seems to be a calculating individual who has played his way out of situations like this, and it is not worth it for him to go to a place like this even if Cleveland can offer a huge contract.

Category 2: Uncharted Waters (Cincinnati, Arizona, NY Jets, Miami)

Cousins's brain coach will need to be working overtime if he chooses to leave DC for one of these destinations.  All of these teams carry uncertainties that Cousins and his camp must be weighing against the known evil that lies in Ashburn, Virginia.  Arizona was one of the obvious alternatives for Cousins in the beginning of this season, but with Bruce Arians almost certainly on his way out can Cousins afford to take a gamble on an coach to be named later and hope that they gel?  This is ditto for Cincinnati's situation where Marvin Lewis looks to be ending his 15 year reign as head coach.  Miami would have to take a big step and release Ryan Tannehill, which is a maybe at best, and Cousins would also be stepping onto a Dolphins team with a second year head coach that is taking on water at the moment.  The Jets are very intriguing as far as salary cap space goes, but with Jermaine Kearse, an aging Matt Forte, and soon-to-be-free-agent Austin Serferian-Jenkins as the Jets's main skill players on offense it seems to be a lateral move from DC at best.  Even with that cap space to possibly sign some free agents, remember that the Jets drafted Christian Hackenberg to be the future.  So these teams have many uncertainties surrounding their situations that makes the known situation of the Redskins better than the unknown of these teams

Category 3: Replacing the Legend (NY Giants, New Orleans, Pittsburgh)

These teams present Kirk with the question of legacy.  It is plausible that the Giants could move on from Eli, Brees is a UFA at the end of this season, and there are rumors that Roethlisberger may retire after this season, especially if he wins his third Super Bowl this year.  It would be intriguing for Kirk to go to a ready made winner, but would Kirk be able to handle that kind of pressure?  Cousins will need to really amend his process to accommodate for the media lashing that will come when he falls short of being "the guy who came to replace the legend".  And, more importantly, does Cousins want to carry that moniker with him in the latter end of his career?  Even if he is able to win a Super Bowl in New York or Pittsburgh (which would be the standard he will be held to), the narrative will always be that it was not as many as Manning or Roethlisberger.  Brees only won one, but Cousins could never endear himself to that fan base the way Brees has over his career.  He will always play the step dad role in these cities.  Couple this with Odell Beckham's prima donna attitude, Pittsburgh's horrendous cap space situation, and Le'Veon Bell's own franchise tag free agency hangover, and a ready made winner may not be better than trying to build here in DC.  If New Orleans came calling, though, it may be hard to turn down, but it would still carry the baggage of replacing a legend.

Category 4: High Expectations (Jacksonville, Minnesota)

It maybe the first time ever that the Jacksonville Jaguars are associated with the term "high expectations", but if Kirk were to go there he would need to get the left side of his brain in full gear to tone down his inner monologue. The current AFC South Champions would expect, with no major free agents to sign other than Marqise Lee and Allen Robinson and a returning high octane defense, that Kirk Cousins would come in and improve them right away based on his performance over the past three years.  If Cousins were to fall short of wherever the Jags finish this season it would spell instant disaster for Cousins based on the price tag he would demand.  It would be the same situation with the Vikings who have the defense and the skill players to get the job done next season, and all three of their current quarterbacks are UFA's at the end of this season.  Minnesota would be intriguing for Kirk because they have the cap space and a ready made team for him to succeed, but if that success does not come right away Kirk would be an instant scapegoat.  Would Kirk be able to perform with the expectation that he needs to win his division or else there will be disappointment?  And, could Kirk handle being called a bust after one season due to his big contract and hypothetical mediocre record?  With all of these teams considered there is only one option.

All of these teams' current situations show that Cousins has no option but to stay in DC.  The Redskins have the means to give him a large long-term contract, and if not they could still franchise him and limit his options once again.  The Redskins, though, do not have a possible replacement that Cousins would need to dispossess.  The Redskins coaching staff is relatively stable, and most of his offensive weapons will be back next year.  Expectations in DC will be high no matter what, but they will not come with special caveats that will put a higher premium on winning in the short term for relative strangers who would not fully appreciate what Cousins brings.  Kirk Cousins draws his energy from his self imposed daily routine, and moving to another team may require a drastic change to that routine that would require time that Cousins may not have in a new setting given the limitations stated above.  For Kirk Cousins to remain successful with the least amount of stress put on him and his process, his only option is to stay with the Washington Redskins.