Kirk Cousins will be the first quarterback in NFL history to play consecutive seasons on the franchise tag.
Cousins and the Washington Redskins didn’t sign a long-term deal by the deadline Monday. He will make $23.94 million on the franchise tag in 2017 after earning $19.95 million last year.
Team president Bruce Allen said in a prepared statement that the Redskins’ goal was to sign Cousins to a long-term contract and offered him $53 million guaranteed or $72 million in the event of injury. That would have been the second-most fully guaranteed money given to a QB behind Aaron Rodgers’ $54 million.
“Despite our repeated attempts, we have not received any offer from Kirk’s agent this year,” Allen said. “Kirk has made it clear that he prefers to play on a year-to-year basis. While we would have liked to work out a long-term contract before this season, we accept his decision.”
Cousins’ agent, Mike McCartney, declined an interview request made before Allen issued his statement. Allen said the team’s offer was made May 2 and that he met with Cousins face to face over the weekend.
The 28-year-old Michigan State product is going into his third full season as Washington’s starter. Cousins set franchise records with 4,166 and 4,917 yards the past two seasons, but has yet to win a playoff game.
Oakland’s Derek Carr signed a deal last month that guarantees him $40 million. Carr has also not won a playoff game, but has played only three pro seasons, Cousins will head into his sixth NFL campaign and was a backup to Robert Griffin III to start his career.
In 46 games, including 41 starts, Cousins has completed 65.6 percent of his passes for 12,113 yards, 72 touchdowns and 42 interceptions.
“I think Kirk has proved that he’s in the top 15 quarterbacks,” recently promoted senior vice president of player personnel Doug Williams said last month. “Wherever you want to put him it all depends on who’s looking at him in this league for what he’s done in this league. I know a lot of people say he’s got to win this one, he’s got to win that one, but I think Kirk has proved that he can play in this league.”
Cousins and executives called negotiations positive, and they may go through this again next spring. If Washington uses the franchise tag again for 2018, Cousins would get a 44 percent raise to $34.47 million, or they could use the transition tag on him at a cost of $28.78 million.
The transition tag would allow the Redskins to match any offer but would not give them any compensation if he left. Cousins has no shortage of admirers around the league, most notably former Washington offensive coordinators Kyle Shanahan, now head coach of the San Francisco 49ers, and Sean McVay, now coach of the Los Angeles Rams.
Chief negotiator Eric Schaffer said the Redskins weren’t trying to “win a championship” with their contract and said there was a positive dialogue with Cousins’ camp.
“Kirk is a really good player and he’s a Redskin and we only want him to be here,” Schaffer said. “I would express that.”
Asked by former QB Joe Theismann if he wanted to be a member of the Redskins, Cousins said yes and called it “an easy answer.”
“There’s just so many positives to discuss – love my teammates, I love playing with these guys – so I don’t need to look elsewhere,” Cousins said in a video posted on the team’s website.
The Carolina Panthers fired general manager Dave Gettleman on Monday, eight days before the team reports to training camp.
Owner Jerry Richardson said in a statement he made the decision after a long evaluation of the team’s football operations.
“I want to thank Dave for the role he played in our success over the past four seasons,” Richardson said. “While the timing of this decision is not ideal, a change is needed.”
Gettleman had been Carolina’s general manager for four seasons, when the Panthers went 43-26-1. But Carolina was 6-10 last season a year after reaching Super Bowl 50, where it lost to Denver. The Panthers had won the NFC South his first three years at the helm.
Gettleman made some business decisions that were unpopular with fans after taking over for Marty Hurney in 2013. Among them: cutting star wideout Steve Smith before the 2014 season and running back DeAngelo Williams in 2015, then allowing cornerback Josh Norman to become a free agent in 2016 after rescinding the franchise tag. Norman signed with Washington.
Williams, now a free agent after two seasons with Pittsburgh, tweeted he would consider returning to the Panthers “due to the firing of that snake Dave Gettleman!”
Smith, arguably the franchise’s most popular player, never took the move well.
After learning of the news of Gettleman’s firing, Smith tweeted “It’s Okay! Dave I know how you feel…”
Linebacker Thomas Davis is in the final year of his contract and was hoping for an extension before the start of training camp. Pro Bowl tight end Greg Olsen is also hopeful of an extension, although he has two years left on his current deal.
The Panthers report to Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C., on July 25.
Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott, whose behavior is under investigation by the NFL, reportedly has drawn unwanted attention because of an incident Sunday night in a Dallas bar.
Dallas police say they were summoned to Clutch bar about 9:40 p.m. because a 30-year-old patron said he had been physically assaulted by an unnamed man in the incident, which was first reported by 105.3 FM The Fan in Dallas. The man was taken to a hospital for nonlife threatening injuries and no arrests were made and Elliott was not named on the police report. However, The Fan, TMZ, the Dallas Morning News and ESPN cited sources naming him in what Dallas police told The Post in an email is an ongoing investigation. A lawyer for the Cowboys star has not responded to a request from The Post for comment.
Elliott, who will turn 22 on Saturday, led the NFL in rushing as a rookie. But an allegation of domestic violence, for which no charges were filed, has hung over the offseason and could result in his suspension. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported on Friday that “there’s a growing sense” that Elliott could face “some sort of short suspension here in the coming weeks at some point, once the NFL wraps up its investigation.”
The Pittsburgh Steelers and star running back Le’Veon Bell failed to reach an agreement on a long-term contract, meaning Bell will play on a one-year tender this season.
Pittsburgh placed the franchise tag on Bell in March and had until Monday afternoon to work out a new deal. Bell instead will make $12.1 million this season, the average of the five highest-paid running backs in the league.
Bell could become an unrestricted free agent next spring or the Steelers could place the franchise tag on him a second time. General manager Kevin Colbert says the team will “resume its efforts” to re-sign Bell next offseason.
The 25-year-old Bell ran for 1,268 yards and seven touchdowns and caught another 75 passes in 12 games for Pittsburgh in 2016.
(Material from the Washington Post was used in this report.)