BOCA RATON, Fla. — Scot McCloughan knows the money will flow freely every year in free agency as other teams pursue the top available players on the market, but the Washington Redskins’ general manager is still surprised whenever the deals start blossoming.
“The thing that’s scary about free agency is you always overpay,” McCloughan said on Tuesday at the NFL’s annual meeting.
McCloughan doesn’t believe in being a big spender as much as he is committed to retaining his own players. As early as the Senior Bowl at the end of January, he reiterated that same philosophy and certainly stuck by it when free agency began two weeks ago.
As teams such as the New York Giants and Jacksonville Jaguars shelled out copious cash, Washington sat out the spending spree, aside from using the $19.95 million franchise tag on quarterback Kirk Cousins — which they did a week before free agency began.
McCloughan and the Redskins retained quarterback Colt McCoy, cornerback Will Blackmon, outside linebacker Junior Galette, inside linebacker Mason Foster, nose tackle Kedric Golston, punter Tress Way, strong safety Duke Ihenacho, tight end Logan Paulsen and offensive lineman Josh LeRibeus. The team also kept inside linebacker Will Compton and running back Chris Thompson, who were both exclusive-rights free agents.
The Redskins boosted their depth by bringing in three from other teams: Defensive end Kendall Reyes, safety David Bruton and inside linebacker Terence Garvin.
“It’s been good,” McCloughan said. “It’s not just about bringing in guys from the outside in, but re-signing our own. That’s how you start building things because you know how they are in the meeting rooms, off the practice field, the locker room, the weight room and that’s what I believe in. Which is why I think the draft is so important for us. We can identify good football players, guys that we want to get to second and third contracts and not live on the outside with guys that have gone to different organizations and have them retire being a Redskin.
“It’ll be the same way every year. I’m not going to live, and we as an organization aren’t going to live in free agency. If we have the opportunity to make us better for the right price, we’ll stay in ’em. All of a sudden the value is much higher than we think it’s worth, then we’re out.”
The biggest priority this offseason was ensuring Cousins’ return as the team’s starting quarterback, which the Redskins did by using the franchise tag. Two weeks ago, team president Bruce Allen said that negotiations for a long-term extension with Cousins would begin once the initial free agency wave passed.
If the team cannot work out an extension before July 15, then Cousins will play the entire 2016 season under the franchise tag designation. McCloughan said that negotiations have been ongoing, but that no deal is imminent.
“It’s still in the process,” McCloughan said. “We have our time restraints, but it’s ongoing. I would love to have Kirk on a long-term deal and I think he would love to be on a long-term deal. This time of year it’s always tough. You identify who you want in free agency, but the money comes into play and the term of the deal. Everyone in that building wants Kirk to be our quarterback for a long time, but as of right now, we don’t have the availability.
“[Cousins’ agent] Mike McCartney is a good friend of mine, I’ve known him for a long time, Kirk is a really good person, he’s not in it just to get the money, and we talked about this. He’s about, he wants to be a Redskin, he wants to understand that it’s his team and we’re going to go do special things, he wants to be the quarterback and you know as a person, I respect that so much because I’ve been around players in the past that were all worried about just the money, and he’s not.”
Whether the Redskins can work out a long-term deal with Cousins before the July 15 deadline or not, he’ll be the starter next season with McCoy as the backup, a situation McCloughan is looking forward to. McCoy, who played his last two seasons with the Redskins on one-year deals, re-signed with the Redskins on a three-year deal that can be voided to two. Despite having other offers, McCoy expressed a desire to come back to the Redskins.
“The calling factor is the fact that he can play football and he’s a solid, solid No. 2 right now that pushes Kirk,” McCloughan said. “Kirk’s our starter, we know that, you can see with the tag, but Colt’s not going to back down. He wants to opportunity to force Kirk to be better, to prove what he is and I respect that a lot, at any position, but especially quarterback.”
• Anthony Gulizia can be reached at agulizia@washingtontimes.com.
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