Fake News: Kirk Cousins Turned Down the Most Guaranteed Money in NFL History

The Redskins are trying really hard to win the PR battle against Kirk Cousins because he had no interest in signing a long term deal with Washington, given their offer. In an unprecedented move, the Redskins announced what their offer was:

It is, literally, the definition of fake news … but some dopes on social media are taking it as gospel. Check out some of these comments on Kirk Cousins’ instagram page:

I know, it’s just a smattering. There are millions of Redskins fans around the country, and only dozens are upset enough to take the team’s word and go smear the QB’s social media accounts. (I didn’t bother check his twitter and Facebook pages, but you get the drift.)

But what these bozos don’t realize: “highest fully guaranteed amount” is not totally accurate. Washington offered $53 million guaranteed on May 2nd. That number came from his 2017 number that was already set ($23.9 million) and just $29.1 million in new money.

It gets worse.

Six weeks later, Derek Carr signed a much more lucrative contract with the Raiders: $70 million guaranteed (not “for injury” either.) A week after that, Andrew Luck signed the richest contact in NFL history, with $87 million guaranteed (again, not “for injury” either).

And before you say Luck is better than Cousins (we know that) and Carr is too, the only answer: The market decides what Kirk Cousins will make. If he hits the open market, he’s getting in the neighborhood of Luck money because of how QB-deficient the NFL is right now. The 49ers would certainly pay it. Would the Browns? The Jets?

So Washington’s offer of $53 million guaranteed is actually pretty terrible.