Report: Washington Quarterback Kirk Cousins Would “Seriously Consider” Signing With The Browns This Offseason

In the hopes of finding their long-awaited franchise quarterback, the Cleveland Browns might just have a shot this offseason.

In a report from MMQB’s Albert Breer, current Washington Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins would seemingly have no issue donning the Brown and Orange next season if the opportunity presented itself. According to a report from Breer through a phone interview with 92.3 The Fan on Wednesday, Cousins would “seriously consider” the Browns as a possible landing spot to play in 2018.

Cousins has been in a holding pattern the last couple of years with the Redskins, being franchise-tagged the last two seasons. Washington has shown no urge to commit to the former Michigan State quarterback and has continually put him on one-year “tryout” extensions. If Washington were to franchise-tag Cousins again this offseason before the March deadline, it would cost the team 34.5 million dollars. If they put the transition tag on Cousins, it would run the team 28 million dollars. Obviously, both are a hefty price to continue to pay for a single year. If the Redskins don’t want to fork that much money over to Cousins and also aren’t interested in signing him long-term, there would certainly be teams interested in his services.

The Browns struggled mightily at the signal-caller position for another year while watching rookie quarterback DeShone Kizer flounder for the better part of this past campaign. Kizer threw a league-leading 22 interceptions while putting up a meager 11 touchdowns. Cousins, on the other hand, threw for 4,093 yards and 27 touchdowns with only thirteen interceptions. It would be a dramatic change at the position and would be a clear upgrade in the talent department.

As the Browns continue to search for an offensive coordinator to relieve some of the pressure off of head coach Hue Jackson, it would be ideal for them to land a proven quarterback to assist whoever is in charge of running the offense come 2018.

With over 100 million dollars to spend in free agency, there is no reason for Cleveland not to shell a good deal of it out on Cousins. However, they must wait on the Redskins’ decision and more importantly, Cousins’ decision.