As the NFL inches toward the offseason, the Washington Redskins are preparing for the difficult choice of whether to lay the franchise tag on quarterback Kirk Cousins for the third straight season.
Tagging Cousins for each of the past two campaigns has cost the club almost $44 million, and a third year would come at almost $35 million.
With that in mind, former Redskins general manager Scott McCloughan - who made the previous decisions to use the franchise tag on Cousins - joined 104.3 The Fan in Denver this week and weighed in on the upcoming decision.
"He's a good player, is he special? I don't see special," McCloughan said. "He's talented. Talented is good at quarterback in the NFL. He's won games, I know his record overall is not over .500, I know he's not won a playoff game. He's competitive and works his tail off."
While he doesn't think Cousins - who's led Washington to a 24-23-1 record over the past three seasons - is necessarily special, McCloughan does think the former Michigan State star can win with the right roster construction.
"You just need to have some talent around him because you don't want him to be throwing the ball 35-40 times to win a game," McCloughan said. "You want to have a running game, good defense, good (special) teams, and let him do what he does"
Since taking over as the starter in Washington, Cousins is fourth in the league in passing yards and third in completion percentage. Should he become a free agent, he'd likely be high on the list for any team needing an upgrade at quarterback.
