In March, when the NFL free-agency period begins, Kirk Cousins will be a popular name mentioned across the league — and what’s transpired in the month of December has improved the Broncos’ chances of landing him.
A player of Cousins’ caliber at the quarterback position are rarely available via free agency, but poor management and Cousins desire to ‘bet on himself’ have placed the quarterback and his team in a year-to-year situation that likely won’t continue this off-season due to franchise tag prices shooting through the roof. It’s a long term deal or bust at this point.
Of course, with a hot commodity like Cousins comes competition for his services — a lot of it. But with a couple scenarios breaking the Broncos’ way, Cousins may have Denver near the top on his ‘nice list’ of available destinations, as the month of December may have eliminated potential destinations for the sixth-year Pro Bowl quarterback.
Example A: The Jacksonville Jaguars are in the playoffs for the first time since 2007, and surprisingly riding the arm of Blake Bortles. The once cast-off Bortles is playing very well and having a career month in December.
The Jaguars are also rumored to be interested in current New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning, pairing the obvious connection of Manning and general manager Tom Coughlin together.
But with Bortles leading the Jaguars to the playoffs and a potential division title looming, the Jaguars may think twice when it comes to moving on from the player they selected third overall in the 2014 draft to become the franchise quarterback.
Bortles may be closing the door on Cousins to the Jaguars. Check Jacksonville off the list.
Example B: The once-lowly San Francisco 49ers now have new life on the shoulders of mid-season trade acquisition Jimmy Garoppolo.
Garoppolo has started his career in San Francisco 3-0, completing more than 70 percent of his passes in two of his first three starts with the 49ers. Garoppolo has looked in command and in-sync since stepping onto the football field for San Francisco, even engineering a last-second, game-winning drive last week against the Tennessee Titans.
The 49ers also traded assets to New England to acquire Garoppolo, giving them all the more reason to keep him. Garoppolo looks like the franchise quarterback general manager John Lynch envisioned and will almost certainly be well-paid and kept in place moving forward. What was once a very hot potential destination for Cousins because of the natural connection with 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan is now cold as ice.
Garappolo has closed the door on Cousins to San Francisco. Check the 49ers off the list.
Certainly other options for Cousins around the league will remain, as the New York Jets, Cleveland Browns, and Arizona Cardinals will be on the hunt for a franchise quarterback, along with the Washington Redskins, who will potentially retain Cousins with the franchise tag (though highly unlikely due to price) or a long-term deal (something Cousins has already passed on multiple times.)
But in the event that Cousins becomes available, with much of the market being multiple pieces away from the playoffs, the Broncos are far closer to the postseason, given their strong defense and talented wide receiver duo of Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders. Cousins would be the only needed upgrade injected into a roster ready to win now — and that may attract his attention.
It’s no secret that the Broncos losing ways this year are due to quarterback play. While that hasn’t accounted for all of their losses, it’s clearly been the biggest problem plaguing them.
The ‘one quarterback away’ sales pitch potentially makes Denver an enticing destination. No other team that seems to be in the Cousins hunt can say this.
Now that some of Denver’s competition for Cousins have found their quarterbacks, Denver looks better and better as the calendar creeps closer to Christmas, thanks to the December dominoes that have fallen in the Broncos’ favor. Even though their present may not arrive until March, if Cousins were to come to Denver, Broncos fans would certainly find it worth the wait.
