Kirk Cousins will be making his third start of the season at quarterback on Sunday when the Redskins face the Giants at MetLife Stadium, but this has more of a feel of an ongoing audition than it does simply the closeout to a forgettable season.
“Obviously, I would love to catch the eye of a team, of a coach, of a general manager who says, ‘We need to acquire that guy to be a starter,’ ’’ Cousins admitted. “As of right now, my job is to get a win for the Washington Redskins, and I haven’t done that yet, but I want to do that this last week of the season.
“I understand the task at hand and I’m focused on the present, which is getting a win here and now. I really do trust that if I take care of my job this week and just get a win, the other stuff down the line will just take care of itself, but certainly I want to play well.’’
The “other stuff’’ for Cousins enlivens what essentially is a closeout game between teams that have been eliminated from the playoffs for a few weeks. After 13 games, the Redskins made the decision to finally shut down Robert Griffin III, who had labored almost all season on his surgically-repaired knee.
Whether this is a power play by head coach Mike Shanahan — on the hot seat and likely to be fired — or a move that should have been made weeks earlier is up for debate in Washington. What is clear is Cousins has played well enough to attract some attention and, even though he has two years remaining on his contract, he could fetch the Redskins a high draft pick if a team out there is convinced he can compete for a starting job.
“I think everybody evaluates players differently,’’ Shanahan said. “Everybody will take a look at him play in these last three games of the season. We’ll go back and look at his preseason games and games he played last year and if somebody is looking for a quarterback or whatever the scenario may be, they’ll make their own evaluations as they evaluate that film.’’
Running back Andre Brown cleared his concussion protocol, and he was projected as practicing on a limited basis for Wednesday’s Giants workout, which was a jog-through. Brown was forced out of last Sunday’s victory in Detroit with the concussion. Running back Peyton Hillis also was cleared of his concussion, and he also was projected to go limited.
Since the Giants did not have a full practice, the following players were projected to be held out: wide receiver Victor Cruz (knee), cornerbacks Trumaine McBride (groin) and Terrell Thomas (knee), offensive lineman Brandon Mosley (hand), defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul (shoulder) and tight end Adrien Robinson (knee).
In addition to Brown and Hillis, projected to go limited were offensive lineman David Diehl (knee) and defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins (quad/shin).
The Giants made a Christmas Day roster move, putting rookie safety Cooper Taylor (hamstring) on injured reserve and signing guard Eric Herman, a 2013 seventh-round draft pick, off their practice squad.