The Washington Redskins have been a very busy team this offseason and after signing DeSean Jackson, the receiver will be taking to ESPN Friday to clarify the situation around his Philadelphia Eagles release, while the team could be looking at a Kirk Cousins trade after signing Colt McCoy as one of the backup quarterbacks for RG3.
The Redskins have already signed Jackson and Andre Roberts this offseason to group with Pierre Garcon and that should help Robert Griffin III get back to where he was a year ago rather than his season in 2013. According to ESPN.com, the Redskins have signed Colt McCoy after he was released by the San Francisco 49ers and that creates an interesting situation behind Griffin at QB. The report says that while there is not a deal in place now for Cousins, that could come later on leading into the NFL draft and if that happens, McCoy and Rex Grossman could battle for the backup spot if they bring his back as well, as Grossman is a free agent, but Grossman is likely gone from Washington if the team doesn't trade Cousins.
New head coach Jay Gruden wants to add depth at every position and now he brings in McCoy and that could give the team some flexibility if they want to deal him for a pick. Earlier in the offseason Pro Football Talk reported that the Redskins would be open to trading Cousins, but no deals reached the negotiation stages and now he could be have some competition heading into next season behind RG3. McCoy has bounced around the past couple years and was traded to the 49ers after his time with the Browns. In Cleveland he started 21 games and now has 4,388 yards with 21 touchdown and 20 interceptions in his career.
Last season Cousins got the final starts of the season when Griffin was shut down and the franchise may be willing to trade him for two reasons: they would love to add draft picks and it would stop anyone from thinking that Cousins should play over RG3. Sure, it sounds crazy still when it's written, but there were a number of articles last season that said Cousins should be in with the way Griffin is playing and now with expectations getting high for the Redskins, a trade with Cousins could be beneficial.
Adding Jackson to the mix is a great risk-reward proposition, as he could elevate the offense immensely, but the Redskins also have to beware of his maturity issues. Leave the "gang ties" out of it for a moment; Jackson has had issues over the years with celebrations on the field, arguments on the sidelines, issues with his contract and he reportedly missed teams meetings. All that could add up to a disaster for the Redskins, but that remains to be seen.
According to PFT, Jackson is going to be on ESPN and will have an interview about what went down with the Eagles and it comes after those reports of gang ties came out. The Eagles made it seem like there were other reasons for releasing him, but the timing of the report and the news of his release are troubling and the NFLPA is going to look into it as well. Jackson is coming off of his best professional season and now the Redskins have one of the best groups of wideouts in the league.
