The Washington Redskins play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday in Week 4 of the 2014 NFL preseason. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. ET. Listen to the live radio broadcast via the links provided below.
Week 4 of the preseason is a meaningless game to everybody except the players on the proverbial bubble. There isn't an open quarterback competition in Washington, but it doesn't take away the growing curiosity to see how backup quarterback Kirk Cousins performs.
While he's not expected to see a large chunk of playing time, how he plays on Thursday could affect his future - if not also the franchise's. Cousins has outplayed incumbent starter Robert Griffin III through the first three preseason games and purportedly throughout training camp.
If Cousins continues to show a mastery of first-year coach Jay Gruden's offense, two things could happen: 1) it plants the seeds for a quarterback controversy if Griffin struggles during the season, or 2) it boosts Cousins's trade value and precipitates him being dealt to another team - such as the St. Louis Rams - in exchange for a high draft pick.
For the rest of the team, the game gives the players on the bubble one last chance to make their case before Gruden as to why they deserve to be on the final 53-man roster.
Tampa Bay also has question marks as to which players will make the final cut. The preseason finale also, presumably, will give newly acquired guard Logan Mankins his first bit of playing time with his new teammates ahead of the regular season.
"We have a responsibility to our team and of course our fans to put the best possible football team on the field that we can," Buccaneers coach Love Smith said this week, via the team website. "By adding Pro Bowler Logan Mankins to the mix, we feel like we're definitely a better football team."
