San Francisco 49ers: A Deal For Cousins Would Be Risky Business

The San Francisco 49ers are in dire need of a quarterback and a lot of dot-connecting has sparked rumors of a deal that would be costly – perhaps, too costly to even consider.

New San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan needs a quarterback. Preferably, one who knows his system. That has led to rampant speculation that he could be bringing anybody from Brian Hoyer to Matt Schaub to town with him – to the chagrin of many.

A new entrant in the “Who Wants to Be The 49ers Quarterback” derby though, would seem to make a lot of sense on the surface. But it’s one that would cost this team a pretty penny. Perhaps, way too many pennies to make it feasible.

Washington is running out of time to make a decision on quarterback Kirk Cousins. Tag him and pay him almost $24 million for the year? Let him go? Or try to salvage something by jettisoning him – and getting out from under that crushing salary – and picking up the ability to add a few more pieces via a tag-and-trade scenario.

The only problem with that latter scenario for Washington is that Cousins has already stated that the only team he will allow himself to be traded to is – the 49ers.

Cousins does not have veto power over where he goes in the strictest sense. But if Washington were to attempt a tag-and-trade with say, Cleveland, Cousins could simply refuse to do a longer term deal with them, which would effectively shut down the trade talks.

Not even the Browns, as inept as they’ve been for so long, would be dumb enough to pay Cousins $24 million – which is his tag number of this season – for one year of service in their uniform. So, while Cousins’ veto power isn’t explicit, it’s just as effective.

The question then becomes, if Shanahan and GM John Lynch are interested in Cousins – big if, there – what would it take to get a longer term deal done to get him into a 49ers uniform?

Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio belives that Cousins would want a deal that contains $53 million in guaranteed money – which is the cost of the 2017 franchise tag as well as the 20 percent increase a 2018 transition tag would entitle him to.

"“Since he’d have to be tagged before he’s traded, Cousins will be entitled to $23.94 million for 2017 prior to any contract being done with the 49ers. With the franchise tag and its 44-percent raise highly unlikely for 2018, Washington at most would apply the transition tag next year, which would increase the $23.05 million by another 20 percent — to $28.78 million. And so Cousins likely would want more than $52 million fully guaranteed over the first two years as part of a long-term deal to stay in Washington.”"

That is a lot of money to fork over for a quarterback who has a career record of 19-21-1.

On the other hand though, over his last two seasons, Cousins has thrown at a completion rate of 68 percent (785 of 1,149), has thrown for 9,083 yards, and 54 touchdowns. With some solid offensive pieces around him, who knows what his ceiling might actually be.

The question though, is whether or not the price tag would be too steep. Having to give up that amount of money – as well as presumably, the second overall pick in the upcoming NFL Draft – would make it a big, bold move.

It’s a move that could potentially set this team up for years of success – or it’s one that could blow up in their faces and set this franchise back.

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As of now, it’s merely speculation and rumor. But in some ways, it’s a scenario that makes some amount of sense., and it would be surprising if Shanahan and Lynch hadn’t at least had a conversation about it.

But it’s also one that has a price tag that should prevent them from pulling the trigger.