INDIANAPOLIS — Mike Maccagnan was just settling in behind the microphone Wednesday when someone jokingly asked, “So how much are you paying Kirk Cousins?”
The Jets general manager laughed and gave the company line, “He’s technically not a free agent yet, so I can’t comment on any of that stuff.”
Two weeks from now, the Jets will be in the thick of the race for Cousins, who will become a free agent officially on March 14. It is rare for an above-average quarterback to hit free agency, so the Jets are going to have plenty of competition for his services.
But the Jets could not address that directly Wednesday since Cousins remains under contract with the Redskins for another two weeks.
Instead, Maccagnan and coach Todd Bowles had to speak in general terms about their plan at quarterback while meeting with reporters at the NFL Scouting Combine.
“We have a plan, A, B, and C,” Bowles said. “Obviously we have some things with free agency and the draft coming up that we’d like to have, that we’re going to look for, obviously without divulging any plans. But we’ll see how they play out. But we have plans for each situation.”
The worst-kept secret in football is that Plan A is a big run at Cousins. But they do have fallback options like re-signing last year’s starter, Josh McCown, who is also a free agent, or drafting a quarterback with the sixth overall pick.
The Jets will meet with all of the top quarterbacks in the draft this week — Sam Darnold, Josh Rosen, Josh Allen and Baker Mayfield. They get 15-minute windows with each player, so there is only so much they can learn about them. Then, they can follow up at Pro Days next month and with private workouts and visits if they remain in the QB market before the draft.
“I think when you look at it, ideally you could probably attack it from both angles in a perfect world whether it’s a pro free agent or a college player,” Maccagnan said. “I think the goal is to find that quarterback that you feel pretty comfortable with to lead your franchise going forward. If it comes via pro free agency or the college draft, when it’s all said and done we don’t necessarily have a preference either way. Our goal is to try to find, identify and acquire one of those guys.”
After going through four different starting quarterbacks in his first three years with the Jets, Bowles said he does not care if the quarterback comes from the draft or free agency.
“We’re just looking for the right fit,” Bowles said. “Be it a veteran quarterback or a younger guy, we’ve got to make sure we’ve got the right fit for our team. It doesn’t matter what age he is.”