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At the Pro Bowl, Cousins said he'd be more than happy to play under the franchise tag for the Washington Redskins for the second straight season. Of course, when the second-year franchise tag for quarterbacks amounts to $23.94 million guaranteed, that's an easy assessment to make.

Signing Cousins to a contract worth over $20 million per year for multiple years would be a more complicated concept. The Redskins have been on the fence about Cousins' long-term potential, and though he's been statistically impressive over the last couple of seasons, there's reason for concern.

In 2016, Cousins completed 67 percent of his passes for 4,917 yards and 25 touchdowns with 12 interceptions, ranking third in Football Outsiders' season-cumulative defense-adjusted yards above replacement metric and fifth in the per-play metric.

These numbers say he's worth top-level quarterback money. And if Washington were to decide to let him walk, he'd most certainly be the most popular player on the free-agent market. Quarterbacks who put up stats like these don't tend to last too long.

When you look underneath the stats, however, it's just as easy to argue against the idea that Cousins is worthy of top-level money for the position or placement as the face of a franchise for half a decade.

He's become a better deep passer over time, but he's also helped by his targets and the offensive game-planning put forth by head coach Jay Gruden and former offensive coordinator Sean McVay, who's now the head coach of the Los Angeles Rams.

But when you watch Cousins' tape, you often see a player who is still uncomfortable under pressure and whose mechanics revert to those from earlier years at times. The question for the Redskins, or any other team interested in procuring Cousins' services over the long term, is whether he can transcend those issues.

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