Kirk Cousins has learned to adapt to different receivers over more than 15 years playing quarterback. “A revolving door” is what he likened it to this week, with each season throwing a new target or two into the mix of wide receivers, tight ends and backs.
For an NFL team that had gone so long without sustained success, continuity might be expected. Instead, nearly everything about the Redskins is in flux after a tumultuous offseason. With the 2017 season-opener less than four months off, the general manager’s job is vacant; both coordinators are new, as is much of the defensive staff; and more than half the defensive starters will likely change, along with the starting wide receivers.
Moreover, Cousins may be heading into his final year in Washington, barring the brokering of a long-term contract by July 15. Failing that, he’ll play under the NFL’s franchise tag for a second consecutive season, then almost certainly hit the free-agent market, able to sign with a team of his choosing in 2018.
If Cousins feels disrespected by the Redskins’ reluctance to commit to paying him the NFL’s market rate over a multi-year deal, there’s no outward sign. Speaking to reporters Wednesday, he characterized his interactions with the team as “really positive” while tamping down expectations of a resolution in the short term.
“As one person has told me, ‘Deadlines do deals,’” Cousins said. “That’s just kind of a rule in negotiating, so why would something happen way before a deadline?... I’m not in a hurry, they’re not in a hurry, so we’ll just see how things go.”
Meanwhile, Cousins is approaching his job no differently than he has since being drafted by the Redskins with a fourth-round pick in 2012, working diligently to become a more capable, complete quarterback.
Though he heads into his fourth year in Gruden’s offense and his third as the Redskins’ starter, Cousins does so amid significant upheaval (though a stout, stable offensive line return). Coach Jay Gruden’s voice will be calling plays in his ear, rather than former offensive coordinator Sean McVay, now head coach of the Los Angeles Rams. Matt Cavanaugh is his new offensive coordinator. And at his disposal is a cadre of new receiving targets — taller, as a rule, and headlined by the 6-foot-4 Terrelle Pryor.
Cousins started the process of getting to know them before this week’s voluntary workouts at Redskins Park got under way, inviting Pryor and second-year wide receiver Josh Doctson to join him and third-year receiver Jamison Crowder and third-down back Chris Thompson for several days of throwing sessions and film study in Orlando. So when the offense took the field for the full-squad workouts this week, Cousins had at least some familiarity with his new receivers.
Pryor stood out Wednesday for his height — particularly when lined up to Cousins’s right alongside the 5-8 Crowder. A former quarterback himself, Pryor accounted for 1,007 receiving yards despite working with six different quarterbacks in Cleveland last season. His height and length translate to a far bigger catch radius than what either Jackson or Garcon presented and should be an asset in the red zone.
For Cousins, Pryor’s experience as a quarterback is another major asset.
“He’s going to hold me accountable because he knows where the ball should go,” Cousins said.
Still, there’s plenty that both must learn about one another, Gruden cautioned.
“Some of the back-shoulder fades, the opportunity balls that Terrelle really makes look easy … are harder to throw if you haven’t thrown them before,” Gruden said. “That’s an adjustment period we’ll have to go through.”
The 6-2 Doctson, who played just two games his rookie season before being placed on injured reserve with Achilles ailments, was a welcome sight streaking down sideline Wednesday to catch a bomb from Cousins.
He wasn’t going top speed, Doctson explained later, but is still measuring his return to form at trainers’ orders. But he feels good, he said.
Doctson said he never got a diagnosis for his Achilles ailments despite a battery of tests and treatments that included underwater training, resistance bands and chiropractic work. He attributed much of what ailed him to his body being “out of alignment” from the neck down. He also believes that the pain that started in his left Achilles migrated to his right because he was overcompensating.
“I could go off one bad wheel, but [with] both of ‘em bad, it was impossible,” Doctson said. “That’s why we shut it down.”
Crowder, now a third-year receiver, represents the old soul in Gruden’s passing game. And he looked this week like the steadying presence he has been the last two seasons. Also impressive was Maurice Harris, another player with length, at 6-3, who made a terrific catch working against cornerback Josh Norman.
Still, it will be a process to get Cousins and his new receivers to speak the same language — not only in the huddle but via body language and eye contact as plays unfold. In large part, the success of the Redskins offense depends on that.
To a certain extent, so does Cousins’s 2018 contract if he doesn’t strike a long-term deal with the Redskins by July 15. Should his numbers plummet, a lucrative new contract could be much harder to come by.
Either way, Cousins’s to-do list this offseason remains the same.
He’s no longer fighting for a starting job. He’s fighting to make himself more valuable in myriad ways that have nothing to do with passing yards or completion percentages — chiefly, mastering the improvisational skill to know what to do and where to go with the ball when a fourth-quarter play breaks down in the red zone and a victory or playoff berth hangs in balance.
“I don’t know that I will ever be Michael Vick or Aaron Rodgers, but can we do that a little more?” Cousins said. “Are there times I can use my legs? I think there is more athleticism there than I give myself credit for. Can I run for a first down here or there more often? ...
“That’s where the third year, the fourth year, the fifth year, you start to fine-tune. That is where it gets fun because the game slows down. You’re not just fighting for a roster spot anymore. You’re fighting to become one of the best players in this league.”
