Denver Broncos: The dream offseason scenario
Sign QB Kirk Cousins to a four-year, $115M deal ($92M guaranteed)
This contract and this player might not match up for some fans, but permit me to explain why Cousins is worth this price tag.
He is in the top 10 of every major statistical category for a quarterback over the past three seasons, and in fact, is within the top five for many of those categories as well.
While the Redskins as a team have not had great success, Cousins has proven himself to be a consistent, effective starting quarterback capable of elevating his team in clutch situations.
Cousins is a dynamic player at his position, a much better runner than he’s given credit for. He makes good decisions with the football, and is very effective in the red zone.
Most importantly, Cousins is a leader capable of rallying his team around him. I think he makes more of a difference for the Broncos than any other team pursuing him in free agency.
For the Vikings, is he an upgrade over Case Keenum? Based on last year, I’m not so sure, and the Vikings have a ton of other contracts coming up they will need to address. For the Jets, he’s a player to build around, not a player to add to a team that is ready to compete.
As crazy as it sounds to some, the idea of getting Cousins on a four-year contract with 80 percent guaranteed is exactly where the market is right now for a player of his caliber. This satisfies his personal desire to have a mostly guaranteed contract, which the Broncos can afford, spread out over four years.
Most of how this is done escapes me, but the Broncos could get Cousins with a cap hit of $25 million in 2018, or somewhere around that, and have it increase in the following years ($28M in 2019, $30M in 2020, $32M in 2021).
That would allow for the inflation of the quarterback position to match what the Broncos are paying Cousins on an annual salary basis, and put him right at the $30M per year mark in overall money.
The Broncos have a substantial amount of cap space coming up in the next two seasons, so they can afford this contract, and I think John Elway has the ability to convince him to get it done.