NFL notebook: Cousins will file grievance if Redskins franchise him

Quarterback Kirk Cousins will file a grievance against the Washington Redskins if the team officially places a franchise tag on him, the Washington Post reported Sunday. Beginning Tuesday, teams have through March 6 to designate the players they want to franchise or transition tag. The Redskins have tagged Cousins the past two seasons. Although the Redskins recently traded for quarterback Alex Smith, they could place a franchise tag on Cousins to prevent him from becoming a free agent and then trade him to get value in return. According to the Post, citing a person with knowledge of the situation, Cousins will file a grievance through the NFL players' union if the Redskins tag him. Cousins, 29, may argue that the team is violating the collective bargaining agreement since it has no intention of negotiating a long-term deal with him or having him play under the $34.5 million franchise tag guaranteed this year. --A family version of Tom Brady's Super Bowl LI championship ring sold at auction for $344,927, the most ever for a football ring, according to ESPN's Darren Rovell. Rovell, who first reported the story, said the family version of the ring has 265 diamonds -- as opposed to the 283 in the actual rings awarded to Brady and other members of the New England Patriots, with the number of diamonds referencing the team's comeback from a 28-3 deficit against Atlanta. The ring, which has the same engravings, has an assessed value of $29,700 from its maker, Jostens, according to Rovell. The ring was sold by Goldin Auctions, which did not say how the ring was obtained, adding that the buyer wanted to stay anonymous. The previous record for a football ring was $230,401, which was paid in 2012 for the Super Bowl XXV ring of New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor. --With 39-year-old placekicker Sebastian Janikowski released by the Oakland Raiders, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady remains the final player from the 2000 NFL Draft on the team that picked him. Other than Janikowski, defensive lineman John Abraham was the only first-rounder from the Class of 2000 to play until 2014, but that occurred with various teams after being picked by the New York Jets. Among that year's quarterbacks, Chris Redman had the second-longest tenure behind Brady, 40, by lasting until 2011. Chad Pennington played through the 2010 season. From the 2001 NFL Draft, New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees is the lone athlete still active. --The New England Patriots awarded defensive tackle Lawrence Guy $500,000 on a renegotiated salary bonus after the six-year pro come up just short of his playing-time incentive in 2017. Guy played in 54.8 percent of the defensive snaps, needing to play in 55 percent for the original $500,000 bonus to kick in. As noted by Mike Reiss of ESPN.com, Guy would have made the bonus if he hadn't been partly rested in the regular-season finale against the New York Jets, as he participated in only 27 of 59 snaps in a 26-6 victory. Guy started 15 regular-season games in his first season with the Patriots. He made 34 tackles, including one sack. --Former Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning was the honorary pace car driver at the Daytona 500. Manning, 41, led the 40-car field around the famous 3.5-mile tri-oval track before the start of NASCAR's biggest race of the year. The Daytona 500 was televised by Fox, one of the networks reported to be interested in hiring Manning as an NFL analyst. The New York Post reported last week that Fox and ESPN are eying Manning as their top choice for available primetime analyst positions. Fox executives attended the Daytona 500. Manning retired from the NFL after the 2015 season as the league's all-time passing leader with 71,940 yards and 539 touchdown passes. He won two championship rings -- one with the Colts in Super Bowl XLI and another with the Broncos during his final season in Super Bowl 50. He also won five MVPs. --Former NFL quarterback and current ESPN analyst Tim Tebow "will play in the major leagues," according to the general manager of the New York Mets. Tebow signed a minor league contract with the Mets in September 2016 and played at two levels of Class A ball in 2017, hitting .226 with eight home runs in 126 games. He struck out 126 times in 486 plate appearances. Tebow, 30, is in major league spring training with the Mets in Port St. Lucie, Fla., which was eye-opening in itself, until comments Sunday from general manager Sandy Alderson further raised eyebrows. "We're very pleased with his progress so far," Alderson said. --New York Jets tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins recently turned down a two-year, $8 million contract and plans to become a free agent, SNY-TV reported. According to the report, the Jets' offer to Seferian-Jenkins did not include enough guarantees or total value to entice him to sign. However, the two sides could still work out a deal. If not, Seferian-Jenkins can become an unrestricted free agent on March 14 and sign with another team. Seferian-Jenkins had career highs in receptions (50) and receiving yards (357) in 13 games (10 starts) last year.