Cousins 3.0, he's going to sign the franchise tag

[The Whale 13]

Cousins is set make $23.94 million under the franchise tag in 2017 if no long term deal is signed by mid July. If Cousins refuses to play (unlikely), the tag would roll over to 2018 and 2017 would not count as a tag year. Cousins has to play for Skins in 2017 since he signed the franchise tag today. The Skins could use the transition tag in 2018 which would be a 20% increase to 2017 or $28.78 million. The transition tag would allow Cousins to get offers from other teams but the Skins can match any deal and Cousins would have to sign it regardless. If he plays under the transition tag, he would be a free agent in 2019 as the Skins are unable to tag him the 4th time under the CBA. I am fully aware of his disdain for Allen/Snyder but minus the cap ramifications the Skins do have control the next 2 years although Cousins has the leverage financially. The caveat here is that if the Skins don't match offers in 2018 under the transition tag, they would receive no compensation for losing him. This is not an ideal situation but having Cousins under control for 2 years and no future cap hits is not as bad as it seems especially if the cap continues to increase annually.

First post but a long time lurker.