Thread: Broncos Advantage In Cousins Sweepsteaks vs. the Vikings?

Sandy Clough on 104.3 the Fan:

"Cousins is seeking a 3 or 4 year deal [not a five or six year deal as teams might prefer] giving him the chance of another Max Contract at age 33. Not unreasonable to foresee that possibility he would get another.

If this Charles Robinson report has validity, if Cousins is available for 3 or 4 years and you load up the guarantees just for those 3 or 4 years, you're not tied to him, you can walk away from him if you're not satisfied.

And Cousins, seeking fully guaranteed money each season would be good for him and might give the Broncos a little bit of an edge whereby that would be their way of doing business where they wouldn't frontload a six year contract, they just do it on a 3 year contract. So, you wouldn't take those giant salary cap hits that would in Cousins' case come close to 30 million dollars as a cap hit in those additional years (4-5-6). This shorter timeframe gives Cousins a concrete commitment and the ability to go back to the negotiating table for another big deal, just before his 33 birthday."

Apparently, some franchises don't like the approach to Cousins though, possibly including the coach of the Vikings:

"Giving Cousins the ability to go for another Max Contract in only 3 or 4 years might be seen as tilting the contract too much towards the player for some franchises, but not necessarily the Broncos."

One of those people who are wary of putting too much of the team's salary cap structure into one position, QB, might be Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer: "Part of the reason we've been winning games and staying in games is that we've been playing good defense, and we've been a smart team and all those things. I want to be very careful about taking away from our strength, and saying 'well. We're not going to be able to do this and we're not going to be able to do that anymore because of financial reasons.'

So, apparently the Vikings do not want to lose defensive players they are paying significant money to in order to lure Kirk Cousins, or at least their coach is pushing back against any attempt to do that by management, if such exists.

But, if the reports about the Broncos being "all-in" on Cousins are true, Elway is going to try his hardest to land Cousins, and will make whatever financial commitment he can to accomplish this task.

And that might mean he's willing to give the player such concessions as a nearly fully guaranteed contract, but one that is shorter than normal, thus not crippling the franchise with a long term deal if things don't work out.

In short, the guarantee would be less than people expect with a 5 or 6 year deal. Cousins gets a nearly fully guaranteed contract, the team gets a shorter deal so the guarantee is less and the possibility of dead cap space down the road is reduced.

Win-win. But only if you are willing to make sacrifices elsewhere.

And apparently, Elway has concluded that he can do it, partly by getting rid of Talib and his $12m guarantee, renegotiating CJ Anderson, etc.

There's even a possibility if the Broncos sign Cousins they could move up in the draft and get Sequon Barkley if the Browns don't take him #1, although perhaps not likely. It would certainly revolutionize the offense if they could pull that off though. Adding a top 10 QB plus a guy who will soon become one of the best, if not the best RB in the NFL would make a huge difference in the offense.

Pipe dream probably. But, a good one.

Originally Posted by Cugel

Sandy Clough on 104.3 the Fan:

"Cousins is seeking a 3 or 4 year deal [not a five or six year deal as teams might prefer] giving him the chance of another Max Contract at age 33. Not unreasonable to foresee that possibility he would get another.

If this Charles Robinson report has validity, if Cousins is available for 3 or 4 years and you load up the guarantees just for those 3 or 4 years, you're not tied to him, you can walk away from him if you're not satisfied.

And Cousins, seeking fully guaranteed money each season would be good for him and might give the Broncos a little bit of an edge whereby that would be their way of doing business where they wouldn't frontload a six year contract, they just do it on a 3 year contract. So, you wouldn't take those giant salary cap hits that would in Cousins' case come close to 30 million dollars as a cap hit in those additional years (4-5-6). This shorter timeframe gives Cousins a concrete commitment and the ability to go back to the negotiating table for another big deal, just before his 33 birthday."

Apparently, some franchises don't like the approach to Cousins though, possibly including the coach of the Vikings:

"Giving Cousins the ability to go for another Max Contract in only 3 or 4 years might be seen as tilting the contract too much towards the player for some franchises, but not necessarily the Broncos."

One of those people who are wary of putting too much of the team's salary cap structure into one position, QB, might be Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer: "Part of the reason we've been winning games and staying in games is that we've been playing good defense, and we've been a smart team and all those things. I want to be very careful about taking away from our strength, and saying 'well. We're not going to be able to do this and we're not going to be able to do that anymore because of financial reasons.'

So, apparently the Vikings do not want to lose defensive players they are paying significant money to in order to lure Kirk Cousins, or at least their coach is pushing back against any attempt to do that by management, if such exists.

But, if the reports about the Broncos being "all-in" on Cousins are true, Elway is going to try his hardest to land Cousins, and will make whatever financial commitment he can to accomplish this task.

And that might mean he's willing to give the player such concessions as a nearly fully guaranteed contract, but one that is shorter than normal, thus not crippling the franchise with a long term deal if things don't work out.

In short, the guarantee would be less than people expect with a 5 or 6 year deal. Cousins gets a nearly fully guaranteed contract, the team gets a shorter deal so the guarantee is less and the possibility of dead cap space down the road is reduced.

Win-win. But only if you are willing to make sacrifices elsewhere.

And apparently, Elway has concluded that he can do it, partly by getting rid of Talib and his $12m guarantee, renegotiating CJ Anderson, etc.

There's even a possibility if the Broncos sign Cousins they could move up in the draft and get Sequon Barkley if the Browns don't take him #1, although perhaps not likely. It would certainly revolutionize the offense if they could pull that off though. Adding a top 10 QB plus a guy who will soon become one of the best, if not the best RB in the NFL would make a huge difference in the offense.

Pipe dream probably. But, a good one.

everybody keeps complaining about how signing cousins handcuffs us and depletes roster talent and blah blah blah. I see it as the reverse. It gives us the opportunity to draft an amazing young Talent at a different position someone like Nelson or Barkley were virtual locks to be perennial all Pros. Or you could even get crazy and draft a Tremaine Edmunds to be your peace opposite Von Miller which would just wreak havoc on opposing offenses for years to come. I also like the fact that the shorter-term deal keeps the guy on edge. I see cousins is a guy who's extremely motivated anyways but you don't have to worry about him getting lazy in year three or four of his deal. Because it's a contract year.

Originally Posted by Jsteve01

everybody keeps complaining about how signing cousins handcuffs us and depletes roster talent and blah blah blah. I see it as the reverse. It gives us the opportunity to draft an amazing young Talent at a different position someone like Nelson or Barkley were virtual locks to be perennial all Pros. Or you could even get crazy and draft a Tremaine Edmunds to be your peace opposite Von Miller which would just wreak havoc on opposing offenses for years to come. I also like the fact that the shorter-term deal keeps the guy on edge. I see cousins is a guy who's extremely motivated anyways but you don't have to worry about him getting lazy in year three or four of his deal. Because it's a contract year.

You can also get an extra year or two with the franchise tag if he plays up to expectations.

Cousins reportedly wants to go on the Peyton Manning tour where he will meet with ownership of several teams.

"The Broncos can only hope the deal is rich enough, salary structure is attractive enough, to land the biggest FA QB since Peyton Manning."

On the downside "Elway did say that Menelik Watson is part of the Broncos plans in 2018 at $8m a year." Urgh! They need a new T !

Originally Posted by Ziggy

You can also get an extra year or two with the franchise tag if he plays up to expectations.

They would hope that he and the team would want to extend his contract so he can stay in Denver. The negotiations then would be rather like the Von Miller negotiations in that case where both sides want to get a deal done and it's just about working out the details.

Originally Posted by Ziggy

You can also get an extra year or two with the franchise tag if he plays up to expectations.

not with kirk-- he's already been tagged twice. . .

Originally Posted by dogfish

not with kirk-- he's already been tagged twice. . .

Crap! I was hoping that the tag limits stopped with the prior team, or a contract would reset all of them.

Originally Posted by Von Kinger

Crap! I was hoping that the tag limits stopped with the prior team, or a contract would reset all of them.

That was already litigated and the player won. I forget who.

You don't reset the franchise Tag, which is why the Redskins can't just tag and trade him and get a 2nd round pick like the Patriots got for Jimmy Garapolo. Except Garapolo had never been franchised, so the 49ers could do it for 2 years in a row.

If they franchised him again, and he signed it, the team that traded for him would get him for 1 year at $34.6m, and no way to keep him after 2018. Nobody would give anything for that 1 year rental. And then Cousins indicated that he would fight the tag anyway, and that would require an arbitration hearing, and possibly an appeal from that to the Federal District Court. In Brady's court case that wasn't resolved until September.

The Redskins can't hold Cousins on the roster till then because they would have to hold open the $34.6m salary cap hit. And they can't afford that.

So, apparently they are not going to franchise him. That was just typical Redskins stupidity in which they try to confuse their fans and the media into supporting management in it's efforts to not look like total morons for screwing up the Cousins negotiations. They got rid of all his weapons to sabotage him so they could either force him to stay in DC or else win the blame game.

But, he outperformed their expectations and now they just appear the fools they are.

Originally Posted by Von Kinger

Originally Posted by dogfish

not with kirk-- he's already been tagged twice. . .

Crap! I was hoping that the tag limits stopped with the prior team, or a contract would reset all of them.

I wasnt aware that it didn't if you signed a 5 year contract. Maybe it changes after you have been double tagged in your first rookie deal???

3-year-deal? Even better.

A 29 year old Cousins is barf, a 35 year old Cousins doesn’t interest me at all.

Originally Posted by Jaded

3-year-deal? Even better.

A 29 year old Cousins is barf, a 35 year old Cousins doesn’t interest me at all.

Ur lame

Originally Posted by Jsteve01

Ur lame

I'm going to have to ask you to not disrespect my brother.

Steve, talk to me about the NTs in this class.

Originally Posted by Von Kinger

I'm going to have to ask you to not disrespect my brother.

Steve, talk to me about the NTs in this class.

He sad.

we don't need a nosetackle anyway. . . if they want to upgrade to somebody better than mini-peko behind regular peko, we already have tyrique jarrett on the roster. . . if we do take a DL, we would want another five tech type, who can play inside on passing downs. . . that's the role demarcus walker was drafted for, and we do have shelby harris there as well. . . it would still make sense to add another at some point-- who knows if walker will pan out, or if the surgery really fixed wolfe's neck issues. . . but with gotsis showing up on early downs, it's not a top priority. . . just on defense, inside linebacker is a more immediate need, and corner will be as well if we do move on from talib. . . lots of holes, and history tells us JFE wants to plug as many of them as he can with cheap vets prior to the draft. . . gonna be an interesting off-season, for sure. . . if they do spend big on cousins on a shorter deal, it amps up the pressure even further to put solid pieces around him right away, which also increases the pressure to hit on draft picks who can not only contribute, but contribute quickly. . . this year's going to have more drama than a soap opera! they must be maneuvering frantically down at dove valley right about now, trying to put all these scenarios together. . .

Apparently its going to be announced today that the Broncos and Cardinals are out of the Cousins sweepstakes. I hope its wrong but that was what i was hearing last night that was going to be confirmed today.

https://kfan.iheart.com/content/2018...-vikings-jets/