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Pros and cons of Rams potentially signing Kirk Cousins in 2018

By Nick Fox

LANDOVER, MD - JANUARY 01: Quarterback Kirk Cousins
LANDOVER, MD - JANUARY 01: Quarterback Kirk Cousins /
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Could the 2017 season be the audition tape for Jared Goff and Kirk Cousins as they battle to be the starting quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams in 2018?

As the deadline for negotiating a long-term deal with franchise tagged players came and went today, Kirk Cousins was the most prominent player to not get a deal done. This sets him up to become an unrestricted free agent next offseason and have the option to sign with any team in the league. Some have suggested the Los Angeles Rams are a potential landing spot. What would be the pros and cons of such a deal getting done?

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Pros:

  • Pro Football Focus ranked Cousins as the 13th best QB last season, throwing for 25 touchdowns (compared to 12 interceptions) and nearly 5,000 passing yards (4,917). He also threw 29 touchdowns (compared to 11 interceptions) in 2015. In other words, he is a proven NFL quarterback and would be the most productive quarterback to be under center for the Rams in a long time (Marc Bulger had 24 touchdowns compared to eight interceptions in 2006). We do not know the same about Jared Goff.
  • Related to the above, Cousins knows Sean McVay’s offense. McVay was the offensive coordinator for the three years that Cousins was the starter (for all or part of the season), and the tight ends coach before that. Sam Bradford suffered from changing offensive systems every year (three in his first three seasons).  Goff will have had two systems in two years, but would presumably not change again for a while. Will Goff master the system this year and build on his success next season? We do not know, but we do know Cousins has already done that.

    • Cousins is in his prime at nearly 29-years-old. If he stays healthy, he could have another five to seven years (or more) of top quality football left in him. That is a pretty good period of time to see if McVay can build a productive offense along with a competitive defense to the point of a playoff run, and a Super Bowl contender. If that is not the conversation, perhaps Los Angeles moves on from McVay and Cousins together.

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    Cons:

    • Cousins is going to cost a ton of money, as much as $25-30 million per year. Do the Rams want to pay that kind of money? Even as a former No. 1 pick, Goff is only set to make $7.6 million next year, and less than $9 million in 2019. That is a huge cost difference! With the Rams looking to lockup some key youngsters as they move forward, having an inflated franchise quarterback salary to cover starting next year is certainly inconvenient.
    • It means giving up on Goff. To be clear, there is no chance that Cousins gets signed for huge money, and Goff sits the bench happily. It just won’t happen. So signing Cousins means trading Goff for whatever you can get, which is likely not much if Los Angeles is desperate and deciding to move on from him. Remember that Goff was the better talent coming out of college, is much younger, and likely has a higher ceiling. 2017 would have to be pretty bad to walk away from that already.
    • Is Cousins good enough to win a Super Bowl? Of course, this is the question asked of every quarterback until they actually win one, but it is a fair question to ask. Former NFL scout Daniel Jeremiah of NFL Network talks about quarterbacks either being tractors, pulling the rest of the team behind them and making them better, or trailers, being carried by the rest of their team and depending on them to succeed. If you think Cousins is a trailer, you are not the only one.

    In the end, it is better for the Rams if Goff shows this year that he can be the quarterback they drafted him to be. A McVay-Cousins reunion is fun to think about, but it may not be the top priority from where Los Angeles sits right now.

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