Reports surfaced early in free agency this past March that Washington Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins wanted to move on to the San Francisco 49ers and play for his former offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan. This came immediately after Shanahan was hired as the 49ers’ new head coach.
Since then, a whole heck of a lot has happened around the NFL and with these two teams specifically. San Francisco went out there and added a veteran stopgap option in Brian Hoyer. Meanwhile, feelings of animosity between Cousins and the Redskins seemed to die down a tad.
Even then, Cousins is slated to play under the franchise tag for a second consecutive season. Short of Washington opting to give him $35-plus million in 2018 with another tag tender, Cousins will hit the free agent market. Of course, this is all dependent on the two sides not coming to terms on a contract extension.
While things have died down on the Cousins to San Francisco front, this one report from the respected Benjamin Allbright seems to suggest Cousins himself still wants to play for Shanahan and the 49ers.
https://twitter.com/AllbrightNFL/status/884798095065841665
Interestingly enough, a previous report suggested Redskins owner Daniel Snyder would rather make Cousins the highest-paid quarterback in the NFL rather than lose him to Shanahan (more on that here).
Remember, Snyder and the Shanahans have a pretty dark history with one another. It includes Mike Shanahan’s tenure in D.C. ending on less-than-stellar terms. That came at the same time that Kyle’s stint as the Redskins’ offensive coordinator was also coming to an end.
For the 49ers, signing Cousins next spring would make perfect sense. The team does not have a franchise quarterback to call its own. Cousins obviously wants to head out west. It just remains to be seen whether his will really come to fruition when the 2018 calendar hits March.
At the very least, it seems to be back on the front burner.