So why didn't Washington sign Kirk Cousins long term?

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@BlackMagic7 said:
I think it's about ticket sales. The Redskins have watched their season ticket base disappear over the past years. I think the RG3 thing got them so high at first that his failure created a panic and it sucked the air out of the fan base. He was going to lead that organization to the "big things" ahead. When Cousins stepped in nobody cared, his presence represented failure in the mainstream. I guess it was a cool story at first when he arrived out of nowhere to salvage the draft pick - but their fan base quickly held it to the RG3 standard of expectations. They were eager to believe Cousins' was NOT RG3. Once he proved he could play at a high level they were still salty about the RG3 thing; Cousin's either Tom Brady'ed them into relevance or nothing; .500 ball with an exciting player gives people more hope. Their success was never viewed as a lucky building block; the team's failure over Cousin's years was put in the context of RG3's "ceiling" and viewed with that disdain.

Alex Smith gives them something that they already had, a competent QB. But he also gives their fan base an upper they can ride high on into the season. He doesn't need to match stats, he needs to push their record to 9+ wins to get people excited for NEXT year. I think that's it. A mediocre year with Cousins means massive disdain by their fan base. A mediocre year with Smith and hey, maybe you can get the fan-base into buying in again in the name of "moving forward."

Very astute breakdown. Kirk through no fault of his own was a reminder that a 4th round pick beat out what the team mortgaged it's future for. Kirk is solid and dependable. He's not flashy and commanding. They WERE all in on RGIII Kirk could be nothing short of a failure that he was still there and Bob was not. From both ownership and fan perspective. I don't think they view Smith as an upgrade. More as a bridge and thankful for not ending up empty handed. You're right though if they win more games it gives them hope. My opinion is 2 years Smith is gone. 

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My expectations for KC surpass solid and dependable. I expect to win shoot-out's when the "D" is having an off-game and to blow teams out when they aren't...

Sustainable, double-digit win seasons and deep playoff-runs. 

It's time...

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@purplefaithful said:
My expectations for KC surpass solid and dependable. I expect to win shoot-out's when the "D" is having an off-game and to blow teams out when they aren't...

Sustainable, double-digit win seasons and deep playoff-runs. 

It's time...

I agree. I wasn't disrespecting Kirk's game. I think he will put up numbers we haven't seen in a while. Scoring wise. I was pointing out how polar opposite Kirk and RGIII are. The fans there were expecting total excitement. They couldn't settle for anything less then great. Them two divided the fan base. Kirk did nothing but stay healthy and produce. That drove the Bob crowd nuts...imo.

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Remember when Teddy went down and we could actually see our collective soul float up into the clouds? There was little hope, little interest... Bradford going 5-0 certainly had people feeling WOWED, and then what happened? 

I wonder if that is the temperature of Redskins fans with Cousins after RG3. Bradford was a STUD when he was on point - we looked unstoppable. When Bradford or the team made mistakes we had a segment of fans who felt we we're seeing some kind of signs of pending failure. Fanbases go from rabid to not when "the plan" begins to feel wrong or stale... and the snap back to rabid pretty quick when changes occur.

I don't personally believe Alex Smith is a better quarterback than Cousins - but Smith has earned a lot of respect; he's the perfect player to sell "moving forward" to their fan base. If someone is selling Cousins just wasn't consistent enough then hey, line up for season tickets because that problem is solved with Smith. If some one is selling Cousins couldn't win then hey, check out KC last year and buy a ticket!