Cousins could be the headliner among the quarterbacks available in unrestricted free agency if the Minnesota Vikings don’t re-sign him.
“We have our interests. He has his,” Vikings General Manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said last week at the combine. “And we get to the table and see if we can figure out a creative solution and how to meet in the middle. … What we do know is we have a really great quarterback, a great leader and somebody that we think we can win the ultimate prize with.”
Cousins turns 36 in August and is coming off a season cut short by a torn Achilles’ tendon in his right leg. But he was playing extremely well before his injury. He is a four-time Pro Bowl selection and has been a master at getting the most out of his market value. If a team decides Cousins is the win-now addition it needs, he could emerge with yet another highly lucrative contract.
The Broncos informed Wilson Monday that they will release him next week. The move had been widely expected after his two-season stay in Denver became increasingly contentious.
Wilson, 35, was a nine-time Pro Bowl selection and a Super Bowl winner during his 10 seasons with the Seattle Seahawks. He was unable to duplicate that success in Denver, but he was the NFL’s eighth-rated passer last season. And the Broncos owe him $39 million for next season, minus whatever he earns from his next team — meaning Wilson’s new franchise might not have to give him an overly expensive deal, at least not for Year 1.
The Broncos must replace Wilson while dealing with an $85 million salary cap hit from his release. They can spread that amount over two seasons. And the cap will take a record $30.6 million jump from last season to next season, to $255.4 million per team. Nevertheless, the squeeze is less than ideal, and the Broncos may have to account for it in their quarterback deliberations.
“We want to see the entire landscape,” Broncos GM George Paton said last week.
Sean Payton, who took over as the Broncos’ coach last year, can only hope to find a quarterback to enable him to duplicate the success he had with Drew Brees while with the New Orleans Saints. Payton spoke at the combine about seeing a “a humorous meme” of a Broncos fan wearing a jersey with the names of about eight quarterbacks, all crossed off. The Broncos’ task, Payton said, “is to make sure that this next one doesn’t have a line through it.”
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers decided not to use their franchise player tag on Mayfield before Tuesday’s deadline, placing it instead on safety Antoine Winfield Jr. The tag would have resulted in a one-year deal worth $38.301 million for Mayfield.
Mayfield, the former No. 1 pick in the NFL draft by the Cleveland Browns, revived his career last season with the Buccaneers, helping them reach the NFC playoffs and beat the Philadelphia Eagles in the opening round. He is eligible for free agency after signing only a one-year contract with the Buccaneers last offseason. They still could re-sign Mayfield before the free agent market opens, and they seemingly would like to do so. But if that doesn’t happen,…
This article was originally published by a www.washingtonpost.com . Read the Original article here. .
