The Facts: HC Jay Gruden knows what he wants if Cousins returns: More big plays. And that stems from building more trust in the receivers around him.

Diehards Line:Cousins lost two 1,000-yard receivers in Pierre Garcon and DeSean Jackson, the latter of whom routinely made big plays down the field. In 2016, Cousins had 72 pass plays that gained 20 yards or more. This past season he had 59. Of those pass plays this season, 20 occurred on throws that traveled at least 20 yards -- compared to 38 such plays from the previous season. As ESPN.com's John Keim noted, some of that stemmed from the loss of those receivers. In other cases, the Redskins felt Cousins had opportunities available that he didn’t take, a function of working with certain receivers for the first time, whether Terrelle Pryor or Josh Doctson. Gruden hopes, if Cousins does return, that he can build upon his experience with Doctson. Gruden liked how Cousins developed with off-schedule plays. Gruden said it might not be an area he’ll ever be fully comfortable, but Cousins certainly made more plays with his legs than in the past. Cousins ran 49 times this season – 15 more than the previous year and 23 more than in 2015. He averaged a career-best 3.65 yards per run. It's reasonable to believe Cousins' level of comfort with his receiving corps will improve with time. With all that said, we can now return to the contract issue, which will likely be in the news throughout the offseason.