The Washington Redskins won the NFC East in 2015 and finally found a productive quarterback in Kirk Cousins. The Skins will face just one minor problem though Cousins is headed towards free agency unless the Redskins can pay him what he is worth (to them).
Cousins is not nearly as sought after around the league but the Redskins specifically can win with him. They had a star first round quarterback and now they will be price gouged by a perennial backup who just had his best season of his career. In addition to paying Cousins the Redskins will have to decide what to do with 5 players whose cap is far too high. Cornerback Chris Culliver is set to cost the Redskins $9,250,000 and has done hardly anything to deserve it.
Culliver only played in 6 games this season and recorded 1 pass defense with no interceptions. The Redskins may not have a lot of options at cornerback but none of them are particularly good enough to force their hand in paying them or not releasing them. If that wasn't bad enough the Redskins are slated to pay Pierre Garcon $10,200,000 which is also absurd. Garcon had 6 touchdowns this season and did not even register 800 yards receiving.
Even worse he has only crossed the 1,000 yard mark once in his career. Garcon has not been worth enough to the Redskins to keep him unless they absolutely cannot find a free agent wide receiver willing to come to Washington. Following Garcon is DeAngelo Williams. Hall is 32 and has been with the Redskins since 2008 so he does deserve as much respect as possible. Hall has a cap hit of $5,062,500 which is ridiculous if you consider he has not recorded a single interception in the past 2 seasons.
Hall is far too unproductive to be costing the Redskins that kind of cap space. He should either be resigned for a veteran minimum or be released. Rounding out the defensive backfield is Dashon Goldson who has been arguably one of the worst safeties in the league is going to cost the Redskins $8 million in cap space. Goldson was probably the most productive member of the secondary on this list because at the very least he had an interception, a forced fumble, and a defensive touchdown in 2015. Goldson should have his contract reworked to help with that monster cap hit. Lastly we have former Dallas Cowboy Jason Hatcher.
Hatcher has registered 7.5 sacks in his time with Redskins but it was clear that he had digressed a bit and that his age may be getting the best of him. Hatcher is 33 so it is entirely possible he retires but if he doesn't the Redskins need to work on his cap hit. Hatcher is set to count $8,734,375 against the Redskins cap and that money could be better allocated in different areas of the roster. When all is said and done the Redskins could have a lot more cap space than their original $13,063,702 they were projected to have.
