Kirk Cousins is set to enter the 2017 season playing under his second consecutive franchise tag. The Washington Redskins quarterback is just fine with his contract situation.
Cousins told Redskins Nation on CSN Mid-Atlantic this week he is "in a good place right now."
"I like coach Jay Gruden's quote on Monday] where he said, 'I'm not really worried about it because we got him for this year and that's really all that matters,'" Cousins said, [via the team's official website. "That's the way I've always felt. There are so many guys on this team on one-year deals. Even if it says it's a three- or four-year contract, really the only guarantees are this year. Many of us are playing on one-year deals. I'm not the only one and we're not going to have careers if we don't have a great year this year, so we all don't look much further than this season."
The Redskins placed the exclusive franchise tag on Cousins, worth 120 percent of his 2016 salary, which comes in around $24 million for 2017.
The tone surrounding Cousins' contract situation has softened since rumors swirled about the quarterback wanting to eventually join Kyle Shanahan in San Francisco.
In March, Redskins president Bruce Allen said the team was "100 percent" in consensus about Cousins being a long-term fixture under center in D.C.
Cousins' comments this week are rational for a player set to take home almost $44 million for two years of work. The quarterback also owns leverage in contract negotiations with the ability to hit the open market next year or force the Redskins to tag him again for another increase in salary. Sides have until July 15 to agree on a long-term deal.