Position: Quarterbacks

Impending free agents: Kirk Cousins and Colt McCoy will become free agents at the start of the new league year in March. The team is fully expected to cut Robert Griffin III, getting out of that $16.15 million fifth-year option they picked up last offseason, making him a free agent as well.

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Returning: Cousins is expected to return – either after working out a multi-year deal, or after Washington uses the franchise tag to retain him.

Review: The Redskins kicked off the 2015 calendar year needing to find out if they had a long-term answer at quarterback in Robert Griffin III, Colt McCoy or Kirk Cousins. But less than two months into the year, supporting Griffin turned into the theme of the 2015 offseason. Jay Gruden hired a quarterbacks coach, declared Griffin the starter for 2015 in February (changing course from when he entered the offseason saying he’d hold a competition for the job), and the team picked up the fifth-year option on Griffin’s contract. Griffin got all of the first-team snaps in the offseason practices and training camp. Gruden said Griffin was making progress and went out of his way to praise him at any opportunity. In training camp, if a defensive player got a hand on Griffin, tagging him for what would’ve been a sack, but the quarterback spun away and made a play, Gruden would award Griffin a first down – much to the dismay of the defenders, who would argue passionately (and in vain) for a reversal of the decision. If the offense came up short by a yard on a Griffin pass, Gruden would move the ball up and award a first down. Cultivating confidence and positivity was the name of the game.

But preseason struggles, plus steady progress by Cousins forced Gruden to rethink his decision. Cousins confirmed Gruden’s thinking when he started in place of a concussed Griffin against the Ravens in preseason Game 3, and played well. Gruden told McCloughan Cousins was his guy, and the GM agreed. Daniel Snyder and Bruce Allen gave their blessing, and the rest is history.

The Cousins era began with erratic play (three touchdowns, four interceptions in the first three games), but Gruden insisted he would not make a change. Cousins just needed time to grow, the coachsaid. Little by little, week by week, Cousins did just that. In October, Cousins threw six touchdown passes and four interceptions in four games. In November, he assumed a heavier workload and threw seven touchdown passes and two interceptions. December, he completed 72.8 percent of his passes, threw 10 touchdown passes and only one interception. The Redskins closed out the year winning their last four, five of their final six and seven of their last 10.

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Cousins set the franchise record for passing yards in a single season, and became the first Redskins quarterback since 1970 to lead the NFL in completion percentage while spreading the ball around judiciously. For the first time in five years, Washington had three pass-catchers with at least 600 receiving yards. Cousins recorded a team-best seven 300-yard games, and his 29 touchdown passes tied for second-most in a single season in franchise history.

Redskins officials exited the 2015 season convinced they had found their quarterback, which ranked No. 1 on their list of personnel questions entering the year.

Big question: How and for how much will the Redskins retain the services of Kirk Cousins? When the team decides to pull the trigger and release Griffin is nearly as intriguing. That move also could get the ball rolling on earnest negotiations for Cousins’s new deal.

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Team officials and coaches don’t see Cousins as a bridge quarterback. They believe they can win with him for years to come. The keys are continued growth by Cousins, while McCloughan and staff contines to improve his supporting cast.

The general manager is determined not to let Cousins depart, even though other teams now likely have him on their radar. The Redskins would prefer to work out a contract with Cousins sooner rather than later. But his agent, Mike McCartney, likely feels no pressure to rush. He and Cousins have all of the leverage – especially if Mike Shanahan winds up landing the San Francisco 49ers’ head coaching job. If the Redskins and the Cousins camp can’t reach an agreement by the franchise tag deadline (March 7), Washington very well could tag the quarterback to keep another team from swooping in and luring him away. That designation would mean a commitment of $19 million to $20 million. Washington and Cousins’s agent could still continue to negotiate toward a long-term deal, but the franchise tag essentially would take the quarterback off the market, unless a team made such a lucrative offer that the Redskins decided not to match it, and then the team would have to fork over two first-round picks as compensation for Washington. That seems unlikely, however. And so, the clock is ticking, the watch is on.

And from there, the question about the quarterback position involves depth. Will the team re-sign Colt McCoy? Or, will he try to go somewhere he can compete to start? Also, does/should the team draft a quarterback in the middle rounds of the draft to develop behind Cousins?

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