32 of 32

Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Kirk Cousins, Quarterback

Cap Space: $13.4 million

The Washington Redskins are another team that needs to trim the fat over the next few weeks. As things stand, they have under $14 million in wiggle room.

And with a young quarterback to sign, that won't come close to covering it.

It isn't like the Redskins have a choice. Not after Kirk Cousins led the team to an NFC East title in his first year as a starter in Washington. Not after he threw 29 touchdown passes and only 11 interceptions. Not after he set a franchise record with 4,166 passing yards.

Twenty-seven-year-old quarterbacks who just led the NFL in completion percentage don't get within miles of the open market.

Of course, as Master Tesfatsion of the Washington Post reported, the Redskins are about to receive quite a bit of cap relief if (as expected) the team bids adieu to Robert Griffin:

The Redskins will aim to build their team around Cousins and, as a result, build their salary cap strategy around his contract. Washington has avoided shelling out big bucks on a quarterback because of the economical rookie contracts of Cousins and Robert Griffin III the past four seasons, but it will have to soon deal with the hefty cost to retain Cousins. The ramifications will impact the franchise’s decision-making, both in the short and long term, on how it juggles the cap while improving the roster. Cap analysts currently expect the NFL base salary cap to be around $153.4 million next season, which would give the Redskins just over $12.7 million in cap space — the sixth-lowest figure in the NFL. Washington will receive some relief in the coming weeks once it inevitably releases Griffin, who has an unguaranteed base salary of $16.1 million next season, in the final year of his rookie deal. The transaction would increase the team’s cap space to a tick under $29 million. That would place the Redskins in the middle of the pack with their cap figure before reaching a deal with Cousins. Still, it would be beneficial for the team to avoid slapping Cousins with the franchise tag and instead strike a multiyear deal this offseason.

It isn't necessarily going to be an easy negotiation. Cousins knows as well as anyone the sorts of windfalls young quarterbacks have reaped in recent years. He also knows the perils of inking the sort of team friendly deal that may well be the end of Colin Kaepernick in San Francisco.

In fact, per ESPN's Adam Schefter the recent contract talks between player and team have broken off, and no new talks are scheduled.

However, whether it's via the franchise tag or the long-term contract, the deal will get done. It's going to be a whopper ($18-$20 million per season), but the Redskins have known for years that the time was coming to pay their young signal-caller.

It just didn't wind up being the one they originally thought.

Cap-space information courtesy of Over the Cap.