Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports reports that the Redskins and QB Kirk Cousins were “nowhere near” an agreement on a long-term extension at the conclusion of the Senior Bowl a few weeks ago.

According to La Canfora, this could lead to the Redskins using their franchise tag on Cousins in the coming weeks, barring major progress towards an agreement.

Recent reports have said that Cousins will likely end up with a blockbuster contract when all is said and done.

However, it could require them to franchise Cousins at the cost of $19 million or so in order to buy some additional time to work out a long-term deal.

Bengals QB Andy Dalton‘s six-year, $96 million deal has come up as a potential starting point for the two sides in contract talks.

Cousins, 27, played out the final year of his four-year, $2,572,688 rookie contract that included a $472,688 signing bonus and is now considered to be the best available quarterback in this year’s free agent market.

In 2015, Cousins threw for 4,166 yards while completing 69.8 percent of his passes to go along with 29 touchdowns and 11 interceptions over the course of 16 games. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 16 quarterback out of 37 qualifying players.

We have him featured in our Top 100 – 2016 Free Agents list.