It is highly unlikely that Washington, which has unofficially traded for Alex Smith as well as unofficially agreed to pay him nearly $25 million per season, will hit Cousins with the franchise tag for the third consecutive season. Still, that $34 million franchise tag number is one to keep in mind as Cousins will be looking to use it in contract negotiations. He probably won’t get getting $34 million per year but he will be getting something close to $30 million.
Over the past three seasons, Cousins has started all 48 games. He has averaged 377 completions on 563 attempts (67%) for 4392 yards, 27 TDs and 12 INTs.