Kirk Cousins May Forever Change NFL Contracts

Despite never having won a playoff game, Kirk Cousins may have just set a new bar for quarterbacks.

Not for play, but for pay.

On multiple occasions, Cousins’ agent Mike McCartney turned down multi-year offers that were proposed by the Washington Redskins because he was seeking a fully guaranteed, three-year deal for his client. The Redskins refused to agree to those terms, so Cousins played under the franchise tag for two consecutive seasons, a move that gave him long-term flexibility but no financial stability in the event he got injured.

That move paid off as Cousins will sign a fully guaranteed, three-year, $84 million deal to play quarterback for the Vikings later today.

As Sports Illustrated points out, other quarterbacks who will be up for contracts in the near future – including Atlanta’s Matt Ryan, Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers, New England’s Tom Brady and Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger – might follow Cousins’ example and ask for contracts that are fully guaranteed.

“What’s obvious is the blueprint is there,” NFLPA president Eric Winston told SI. “Every player’s got to decide. It comes down to how you want to handle your business. The blueprint is there. Obviously, for a quarterback, it’s there. And then it’s a matter of what you want to take.”

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Evan Bleier

Evan is a senior editor with InsideHook who earned a master’s degree in journalism from NYU and has called Brooklyn home since 2006. A fan of Boston sports, Nashville hot chicken and Kentucky bourbon, Evan has had his work published in publications including “Maxim,” Bleacher Report and “The Daily Mail.”