New York Jets willing to go extra mile to sign Kirk Cousins

Reports are indicating that the New York Jets may be willing to do whatever it takes to sign Kirk Cousins.

If the reports are accurate, the New York Jets are going into a stage that most of us are familiar with. You know what happens when we find that special someone that we think is “the one”, right? We do everything we can to impress them. We buy lavish gifts, sometimes even expensive ones. Everything is done to show that special person that side of us that makes them want to say. We are winning them over, or at least trying to.

That looks to be exactly what the Jets are preparing to do when the Kirk Cousins race opens next month. There is a report in Pro Football Talk that indicates the team may be considering offering Cousins a fully guaranteed contract. Talk about winning him over. Another source told Brian Costello of the NY Post that the Jets may frontload the deal and give him $60 million in year one.

Eat your heart out Jimmy Garoppolo!

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We know that it is all speculation until free agency opens but it’s interesting to ponder anyway. Personally, Costello’s scenario seems much more likely than the one from Pro Football Talk. It would take a lot of moxie on the part of Maccagnan to guarantee the entire thing and I don’t believe he has it.

Either scenario, however, would solve the problem of the quarterback. There is no way anyone else would guarantee the entire deal, and sixty million in the first year is unlikely as well. The Jets have the money to do it, but I don’t know if the GM has it in him. However, as big as these numbers are, they would definitely get the job done.

The more the concept sits in the brain, though, the more it makes sense. Frontloading the deal makes a great deal of sense from the Jets perspective. As we said earlier, it clears the field. Nobody will have a good shot at matching. It does the job of wooing their guy. Secondly it gives them a chance to get out later in the deal if his play declines. The larger cap hit up front becomes a smaller hit in years down the line.

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There is recent precedent to frontload the contract this much. The aforementioned Jimmy Garoppolo comes to mind. According to Spotrac, Garoppolo will receive $42.6 million in the first year. His dead cap money is $48.7 million. In the final year of the deal, the dead money is only $1.4 million. It can be done.

If this is the Jets idea to move ahead, let’s go after it. The Jets have the financial means to bring in a franchise quarterback without having to give up any players. Go get the guy you want.

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