Written Tim Daniels at Bleacher Report.com
Washington Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins downplayed speculation he recently reached out to team owner Dan Snyder to request a trade.
On Tuesday, John Keim of ESPN.com passed along comments the 28-year-old made during an appearance on the Know Them From Adam podcast with ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
“I did inquire if there was any interest in trading me to get an understanding of their perspective,” Cousins said. “The answer I got back was Mr. Snyder communicated his belief in me and desire for me to remain a Redskin.”
Chris Mortensen of ESPN.com reported last week Cousins asked Snyder about a trade but was told “not to get his hopes up.”
The quarterback, who signed a one-year tender to play under the franchise tag for a second straight season Friday, denied any type of trade demand in his interview with Schefter. He first learned about the report during a visit to a shoe store.
“I laughed and thought, ‘I don’t know where that comes from because that wasn’t the case,'” Cousins said. “Somehow it got twisted to where an employee of the store is using the word demanded. That’s not the approach I took.”
If nothing changes, the Michigan State product will carry a cap hit of just over $23.9 million for the 2017 season, which Spotrac notes is the fourth-highest figure in the NFL.
Master Tesfatsion of the Washington Post reported in early March the sides had engaged in talks about a potential long-term extension. He noted they “aren’t close to a deal,” however, with the Redskins offering around $20 million per season.
Interestingly, Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports noted a similar offer one year ago with $44 million in guaranteed money would have got the extension done.
Trying to find a solution on the trade market is growing increasingly difficult.
Between the start of the free-agent frenzy and the upcoming draft in April, the number of teams desperately searching for quarterbacks is starting to dwindle. The Redskins front office would have held more leverage a couple of weeks ago, when there were at least eight teams in the market.
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