LOVERRO: Even Kirk Cousins knew joining Redskins was a bad deal

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

Kirk Cousins knew the very minute he received the call from Mike Shanahan that he had been drafted in the fourth round in 2012 by the Washington Redskins that it was a mistake.

“Kirk, this is Mike Shanahan of the Washington Redskins,” Cousins quoted Shanahan as saying in his book, “Game Changer: Faith, Football and Finding Your Way,” published in 2013.

“We will be selecting in two picks and we’re going to draft you,” Shanahan said.
To which Cousins wrote that he responded, “Really? Are you sure you want to do that?”

How many draft picks respond like that to the call from an NFL team?
Cousins knew immediately that he was about to enter a dysfunctional quarterback situation that could ruin his chances of being a starting quarterback.

He knew, like Robert Griffin III, the quarterback the Redskins traded four draft picks to the St. Louis Rams to obtain, that he and Griffin would not be a mentor situation, not the typical starter-backup relationship.

Cousins knew that both young men would look at each other as peers — equals who both competed in that same year in college, Griffin at Baylor and Cousins at Michigan State. He knew that Griffin would always see Cousins as a threat, even though he was a fourth-round pick.

Cousins wasn’t some obscure sixth-round quarterback from Tulsa who no one had ever heard of. He was the star quarterback at a top program at Michigan State who set most of the school’s passing records while starting 39 games and earning 27 wins.

While Griffin was the Heisman Trophy winner, Cousins was the most established, more accomplished college quarterback.

From the day Cousins was drafted, this was a quarterback controversy.
As I wrote for the Washington Examiner in August 2012: “Don’t believe the hype. There’s a quarterback controversy in Washington. It’s Robert Griffin III vs. Kirk Cousins. I love RGIII. I love Kirk.

“No one is printing bumper stickers yet — at least not that I know of. But to deny the existence of at least the roots of a Redskins quarterback controversy means you aren’t paying attention.”

Griffin certainly was paying attention. That’s why he threw a fit privately that, after being hurt in the game against the Baltimore Ravens in 2012, Cousins got the start against the Cleveland Browns and played well. He knew it with his “All In For Week One” Adidas campaign to come back from knee surgery to get back on the field for the 2013 season opener. He knew it earlier this year when he declared he was “the best quarterback on the roster” — a week before he would lose the job to Cousins.

The job, though, is damaged goods. According to his coach, Jay Gruden, Cousins won the starting job, but what did he win? He has been inconsistent in his six starts this year, and, like Griffin saw Cousins over his shoulder, now has Griffin on the roster still casting a large shadow. He also has fast-growing unrest among the Redskins’ fanbase — and perhaps with the rulers at Redskins Park — and Gruden has had to respond to questions about how long Cousins will remain the starter.

“I think he’s done some good things in this season to warrant him some consideration to be a starting quarterback in the National Football League for some time,” Gruden told reporters this week. “Let’s see how he progresses, let’s see what happens here at the end of the year and go from there. I have all the confidence in the world still in Kirk and I think he’s done some good things.”

If Cousins had perhaps landed someplace where a veteran quarterback had some hold on the job, he might have had the chance to develop into a starter without the dysfunction and drama that has turned the position into a carnival dunk tank.

Cousins knew that this would be a bad, bad deal.

“I was surprised and a bit disappointed,” Cousins wrote. “My agent was shocked.”

He said his family and friends tried to lift his spirits after the call from Shanahan in what should have been a joyous moment in his life. “But at the moment it didn’t help me,” Cousins wrote. “I was hoping for a chance to compete for a starting position soon, but I would not have that opportunity in Washington, and that was very disappointing.”

Those who hailed the pick by Shanahan as brilliant never accepted this notion. They said having two in the NFL is a necessity these days — and it is. But not these two, not with this franchise and not in this situation.

Speaking of Shanahan, if Cousins doesn’t pan out as a starting quarterback, that would mean the quarterback guru would have whiffed on not just one, but two quarterbacks within the first four rounds of the same draft.

Like Cousins said to Shanahan, “Really? Are you sure you want to do that?”

• Thom Loverro is co-host of “The Sports Fix,” noon to 2 p.m. daily on ESPN 980 and espn980.com.