Cousins:
Not special
Poor off schedule, but good in a rigidly structured offense
Not athletic
Thrived with mediocre talent surrounding him

Smith:
Not special
Surprisingly good off schedule, but not otherwise dynamic
Ahtletic
Thrived, but with special talent surrounding him

Grading this as a pure QB swap, it's kind of a wash.
Now, Smith is a little older. But Cousins would've cost more.


We included a third round pick, but when Cousins signs elsewhere we'll be compensated a third round pick too so that's also a wash.


We did part with a promising young defensive talent in Kendall Fuller. Given his upside and how bad our Defense is, we weren't at liberty to let that guy go. No position on this team is at a surplus, especially not on that side of the ball.


But what consistently stresses me out, and really does affect my mood more than it should, is how poorly this team does business. They're obsessively, confusingly, frustratingly petty. Maybe McLoughan was a drunk, fine - just fire him and move on, don't drag his name through the mud, alcoholism is a tragedy. Ok, Cousins turned the deal down last Summer, just carry on - don't record a selfie video in a bathroom while on vacation just to announce he spurned the team.

Karma is a real thing, and they just-don't-fuckin-care about it. They think that they must always try to save face, that they must always preserve the benefit of the doubt in the court of public opinion. What they fail to grasp is that there IS NOT BENEFIT OF THE DOUBT LEFT TO GIVE. People hate this owner and his cronies, no limpdick PR management effort can change that.

They didn't just make the trade public last night, they made the terms public too, one more slap in the face to Cousins. I don't even know what the desired outcome in doing that is. It's so sadly spiteful. That's my biggest takeaway from the whole thing.

So, in summary:

- Cousins and Smith are both better-than-average but not great

- we parted with an asset that we should not have parted with

- Once more, we somehow embarrassed ourselves in the process