Alex Smith to be traded to Washington for 3rd round pick and CB Kendall Fuller; agrees to extension

[lancerman]

7 minutes ago, squire12 said:

Its a crap shoot to say which rookie QB needs to sit vs needs to play early.   Wentz,  Luck, Watson, Winston, Mariota seemed to do just fine. 

Sure some suck early, but maybe they were going to suck no matter what.

Wentz didn't get really good until his second year on a team that was good enough to make the Super Bowl without him. Browns are the worst team in the league. 

Luck is a once in a lifetime prospect. He was really good on a team that was stacked on offense but they made him shoulder so much of the load too early in his career that it's very possible the most promising young QB is damaged goods now. 

Watson played good, we've seen lots of rookies play good and decline. He's also injured. Juries out on him. 

Winston is borderline average and this year they decreased his attempts by 20 percent and he was only slightly more efficient. 

Mariota just had the worst statistical season of his career and looks like he's not taking to it. 

 

Do yourself a favor. Look at the elite QB's over recent years. Brady sat a year. Rodgers sat 3 years. Manning didn't sit but it took him several years to really become elite. Brees got stuck in a bad situation and needed a redo with a better coach on a better team to achieve his potential.

The Browns are a worse team than all of them. Either way why wouldn't you hedge your bets. You have so much cap space that there are no negatives to it. 

Edited February 1, 2018 by lancerman

[CWood21]

2 minutes ago, Dashing202 said:

Rumor is we are trying to trade and deal Kirk to Denver . Idk how reliable that is . 

That's part of the reason why Cousins isn't going to blow up this market.  If he's tagged and traded, then his leverage to try and push $30M goes out the window when he can only negotiate with one team.

[Xmad]

2 minutes ago, CWood21 said:

What's stopping the Redskins from franchising Kirk Cousins and auctioning him off to the highest bidder?

And using Peyton Manning coming off a major neck injury isn't really a good barometer.

....The fact they need cap space to operate as a franchise, Cousins could immediately sign his tender and put them over the cap. They just committed a big contract to Alex Smith, to franchise Cousins would cost 25+ million ( I forget what the non exclusive tag price is) and they've clearly moved on from Cousins with this trade and are going to let him walk. 

That's the closest we've gotten to a true franchise QB hitting the market outside of Drew Brees coming off his shoulder Surgery, Franchise QBs never hit FA and cousins will be the first without a major injury concern and with youth and a solid season on his side, his earning potential is as much as he wants with teams desperate for QBs.

[squire12]

2 minutes ago, Dashing202 said:

Rumor is we are trying to trade and deal Kirk to Denver . Idk how reliable that is . 

That is a pretty risky move.   Tagging Cousins puts WAS on the hook for $35M.  He can sign that and screw the cap situation over and another team essentially know that WAS has to move him or be in cap hell.   WAS would have little leverage in a tag and trade situation

[CWood21]

Just now, OleXmad said:

....The fact they need cap space to operate as a franchise, Cousins could immediately sign his tender and put them over the cap. They just committed a big contract to Alex Smith, to franchise Cousins would cost 25+ million ( I forget what the non exclusive tag price is) and they've clearly moved on from Cousins with this trade and are going to let him walk. 

That's the closest we've gotten to a true franchise QB hitting the market outside of Drew Brees coming off his shoulder Surgery, Franchise QBs never hit FA and cousins will be the first without a major injury concern and with youth and a solid season on his side, his earning potential is as much as he wants with teams desperate for QBs.

I'm not going to pretend to be privy to the Redskins' cap situation, but they should be able to maneuver enough to create the necessary cap space in order to tag him.  Spotrac has them at $36M in cap space (maybe @Woz or @Thaiphoon can clarify on this), so assuming that number is accurate that's enough room to franchise tag.

[CWood21]

1 minute ago, squire12 said:

That is a pretty risky move.   Tagging Cousins puts WAS on the hook for $35M.  He can sign that and screw the cap situation over and another team essentially know that WAS has to move him or be in cap hell.   WAS would have little leverage in a tag and trade situation

First off, even if Cousins does immediately sign the tender does that really impact the Redskins ability to deal him?  No.  It just hampers their ability to make other moves. 

[Xmad]

Just now, CWood21 said:

I'm not going to pretend to be privy to the Redskins' cap situation, but they should be able to maneuver enough to create the necessary cap space in order to tag him.  Spotrac has them at $36M in cap space (maybe @Woz or @Thaiphoon can clarify on this), so assuming that number is accurate that's enough room to franchise tag.

That's not counting Alex Smith's contract which they'll get on the day the trade goes through, or the money they need to re-sign other FAs or just tender players... They could do it but that's 50+ million tied up in two QBs.

[Dashing202]

2 minutes ago, CWood21 said:

That's part of the reason why Cousins isn't going to blow up this market.  If he's tagged and traded, then his leverage to try and push $30M goes out the window when he can only negotiate with one team.

I'd take 2015 smith. 

[squire12]

3 minutes ago, CWood21 said:

First off, even if Cousins does immediately sign the tender does that really impact the Redskins ability to deal him?  No.  It just hampers their ability to make other moves. 

Sure, but they would have to move him in order to make any other FA additions, sign their rookie picks without having to cut other players.  Other teams would know that and thus WAS loses the leverage in what they can potentially ask in compensation from another team

Having $40+M (potentially) tied up in the QB position is bad cap management

[CWood21]

1 minute ago, OleXmad said:

That's not counting Alex Smith's contract which they'll get on the day the trade goes through, or the money they need to re-sign other FAs or just tender players... They could do it but that's 50+ million tied up in two QBs.

It's a bit presumptuous to assume that his $17M cap hit is going to jump up drastically.  We haven't heard what his signing bonus is, which is likely where that jump in cap hit comes from.

[KhanYouDigIt]

Let’s be real, Cousins isn’t signing a damn thing for the Redskins.

[CWood21]

Just now, squire12 said:

Sure, but they would have to move him in order to make any other FA additions, sign their rookie picks without having to cut other players.  Other teams would know that and thus WAS loses the leverage in what they can potentially ask in compensation from another team

Having $40+M (potentially) tied up in the QB position is bad cap management

It's a temporary thing, not a permanent thing.  Does anyone truly believe they'd go into the 2018 season with both Kirk Cousins and Alex Smith under contract?  They'd trade him for a bag of potato chips before they let that happen.  They're going to (or at least they should) tag him and essentially treat him like a FA, let him negotiate a contract and then have the Redskins and whoever he comes to terms with work out a trade.

[squire12]

1 minute ago, CWood21 said:

It's a temporary thing, not a permanent thing.  Does anyone truly believe they'd go into the 2018 season with both Kirk Cousins and Alex Smith under contract?  They'd trade him for a bag of potato chips before they let that happen.  They're going to (or at least they should) tag him and essentially treat him like a FA, let him negotiate a contract and then have the Redskins and whoever he comes to terms with work out a trade.

Yes it is temporary, but it has to happen before they can make other moves in FA.  Other teams know this.  Is the benefit of getting the bag of potato chips worth the risk of being over the cap or not be able to sign FA to improve the roster?   It would be a pretty big risk that if it back fires 

[Packerraymond]

2 minutes ago, CWood21 said:

It's a temporary thing, not a permanent thing.  Does anyone truly believe they'd go into the 2018 season with both Kirk Cousins and Alex Smith under contract?  They'd trade him for a bag of potato chips before they let that happen.  They're going to (or at least they should) tag him and essentially treat him like a FA, let him negotiate a contract and then have the Redskins and whoever he comes to terms with work out a trade.

They're better off with the comp pick. They have literally 0 leverage. They might get stuck with his tag on the books when FA opens, limiting them from doing anything until they find a deal.

[CWood21]

Just now, Packerraymond said:

They're better off with the comp pick. They have literally 0 leverage. They might get stuck with his tag on the books when FA opens, limiting them from doing anything until they find a deal.

Do you truly believe they won't get at least a 3rd round pick this year?  I mean, Alex Smith netted a 3rd round pick and Kendall Fuller.