Cousins admits he asked Redskins about a trade

Kirk Cousins

Washington Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins has conceded he did ask the team about a trade.

The Redskins used the franchise tag on Cousins for the second straight year in February and he officially signed the tender on Monday.

But there has been persistent speculation that Cousins is keen to be traded to the San Francisco 49ers to link up with head coach and former offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan.

Last Thursday, the first day of free agency, ESPN's Chris Mortensen reported Cousins appealed to owner Dan Snyder for a trade. 

Appearing on ESPN's podcast 'Know Them From Adam', Cousins said: "As Chris Mortensen reported, not sure how it got out, but I did just inquire to Mr. Snyder and [team president Bruce] Allen if there was any interest in trading me just to try to get an understanding of their perspective.

"And the answer I got back was, you know Mr. Snyder communicated his belief in me and his desire for me to remain a Redskin and his desire to help me by surrounding the quarterback position with all the players and coaches that you need to succeed. 

"And that's the kind of message you want to hear from the owner of your team.

"I'm at a shoe store later that day after Chris Mortensen reported that and the guy fitting my shoe said, 'I heard you demanded a trade.' And I laughed and I thought, 'I don't know where that comes from' because that just wasn't the case.

"I just called them and asked where their perspective was and where they were coming from and I just wanted to communicate. And then somehow it can get twisted to where an employee of the store is using the word 'demand' but that's certainly not the approach that I took."

Cousins said he will have an "open mind" about his future and expects to be signed to another franchise tag next season if the Redskins win the Super Bowl.

The prospect of Washington tagging Cousins for a third time seems unlikely given it would cost them upwards of $34million to do so.