There were a bunch of questions this week on the New York Jets' possible pursuit of Kirk Cousins, who will be a free agent. The people have spoken, so here you go:

@RichCimini I think the Jets are in a position where they have a lot of young (and inexpensive) talent with a lot of money to spend. Does it make sense to go after a FA quarterback (i.e Cousins) and throw the money at him? #jetsmail

— Chris Girardi (@CJGirardi) December 8, 2017

@RichCimini: You're right, Chris, the Jets have a lot of money to spend. Let me throw out a couple of facts:

Their total cash spending this season is only $138.6 million, the lowest in the NFL, according to overthecap.com. In terms of cap space, the Jets project to have $80 million next year, and that number will grow once they cut a few veterans. They also don't have any big deals looming on the horizon, the benefit of having a young team with no franchise-caliber quarterback. The next major deal will belong to Leonard Williams, and that's at least a year away.

The Jets won't be able to pinch pennies again next year because there are rules in place that require teams to spend to a certain threshold. The question is, should they open the vault for Cousins? I do believe the Jets will have some degree of interest in Cousins, but it's hard to predict whether they'd be willing to engage in a massive bidding war. It would be the biggest contract in team history, not even close. A lot will depend on what they think of the quarterbacks in the draft.

You certainly could make a strong case for Cousins. He's a proven commodity who will be only 30 years old next season, nine years younger than Josh McCown. He'd probably be a good fit in the Jets' West Coast system, which isn't that different from the Washington Redskins' offense. He'd also allow them to protect their draft assets. That's the benefit of a free agent, compared with drafting (or trading up) for a quarterback.

The question is, will Cousins actually hit the open market? Colleague John Keim, our ESPN Redskins reporter, gives an update on the Cousins situation, which is complicated.

The sense I get is the Jets would rather find their quarterback in the draft. Why not? He'd be younger and cheaper than Cousins, and they'd be able to develop him in their system. He'd be their guy. It also would be consistent with the current youth movement.

I'll leave you with this: Cousins and McCown have strikingly similar statistics this season. Cousins' passer rating and Total QBR: 99.6 and 56.8. McCown: 96.7 and 54.8. They're close in every major category.

Food for thought.