WASHINGTON — For Kirk Cousins, Joe Theismann says it’s time the Redskins pay up, even if it costs a fortune.

Appearing on 106.7 The Fan’s “Grant and Danny” Monday, Theismann was asked how he would advise Redskins owner Dan Snyder to proceed with Cousins in free agency.

“Dan’s not going to like what I’m going to say,” he laughed.

“We’re in a unique situation here and it’s something that no football team really wants to be faced with,” he said. “We have three quarterbacks that are all basically free agents. Every one of ’em’s contract is expired.”

Mentioning Robert Griffin III will probably have a chance to start elsewhere, Theismann posited, “I would say in Kirk’s case, you look at the salaries that have gone around and where do you go? And that’s the thing you have to ask yourself as a football team.

“If you don’t sign Kirk Cousins, and let’s say he goes some place else, where are we as a football team after having invested the three years in him — four years, really — and this particular season that he has had? You have to sign him and the number’s between $80 [million] and $100 million,” he said. “You can’t get around it; that’s where the numbers are. His performance dictates it, he’s stayed healthy.”

Theismann equated Cousins’ situation to that of Joe Flacco in 2012 when, after turning down a substantial offer heading into the season, Flacco led the Baltimore Ravens to their second Super Bowl title. The Ravens made him, at the time, the game’s highest-paid quarterback as a reward.

“The Ravens had no opportunity to but to basically sign him,” Theismann said. “And you look around the National Football League, there are a lot of suitors out there that would go after Kirk Cousins because of what he’s been able to do.

“Specifically, staying healthy, the accuracy with which he throws the football. I’ve been extremely impressed with the way he’s thrown the ball down the field, both on fades down in the red zone, as well as up the field like he did yesterday to Pierre [Garcon] — making a guy miss, reset, get rid of the football with enough arm strength so that you hit Pierre in stride and he doesn’t have to wait for it.”

“I think the Redskins have got themselves in a situation where, economically, they’re going to have to [step up] to the plate, ” he said. “And that number has been dictated by a lot of different people. He’s better than Colin Kaepernick at 100-plus [million dollars]; he’s better than Jay Cutler at 100-plus; he’s better than Matthew Stafford at 100-plus; so you’re welcome, Kirk. And I’m sorry, Dan.”

Cousins spoke about his contract earlier in the program, telling the hosts, “I think it will come down to how much they want me and their belief in me, and what they see me doing going forward, and if they see the arrow trending up and if they see potential, or if they don’t.”

“That’s their call and their decisions to make,” Cousins added. “And if they don’t, then I’ll have to go find a job somewhere else.”

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