That means Cousins, who would be ludicrously expensive to tag for a third straight offseason, will be a free agent in 2018. Well, sort of.

It just means the 49ers can start drawing up his new six-year contract anytime now. Everything GM John Lynch and coach Kyle Shanahan have done with the offense in their first offseason with San Francisco has been made with Cousins on their minds for Year 2.

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Shanahan brought the familiar offense. Then came the stopgap starter, fellow former Michigan State QB Brian Hoyer, an ersatz Cousins. A day later came Cousins’ former go-to wide receiver in Washington, Pierre Garcon. Then the 49ers passed on Mitchell Trubisky and drafted only a third string-type, C.J. Beathard.

San Francisco also could have gone crazy spending to rebuild one of the NFL’s worst overall rosters. Instead, according to OverTheCap.com, the 49ers are sitting a league-high $66.2 million under the salary cap.

Schematically, monetarily and personally, there’s no situation in the NFL that can match for Cousins, leading off with Washington. There’s not much negotiating to be done for San Francisco, because it’s already done it in the most non-tampering way possible.

It all has left Cousins in a dream scenario: locked up now and bound to see something even more lucrative later, in the prime of the career. It doesn’t matter if Cousins doesn’t play as well as he has the past two seasons. As long as he doesn’t have a major injury in the Teddy Bridgewater vein, he will be a 49er.

Cousins went all in on himself, and he’s winning, especially now that he has his friends in the right place. He gave the Redskins two chances to come through, and they didn’t. Despite how much they shelled out to him the past two years, he has been treated like a stopgap starter.

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Lynch knows what one fiery leader, Derek Carr, is doing on the other side of the Bay. Shanahan just helped a similar QB, Matt Ryan, to MVP honors and a Super Bowl XLVI run. Although Cousins has starred under Jay Gruden, his boom potential was developed under Shanahan. The Jedi-Padawan relationship is strong with them, and it’s a force backed by a pile of galactic credits.

While there’s no clarity over the impending free agency of Jimmy Garoppolo because of what Tom Brady and the Patriots may or may not do after 2017, it’s crystal-clear with Cousins. The Jets’ unofficial tank mode also means there’s no clear shot at the No. 1 draft pick and USC’s Sam Darnold, either.

NFL teams like to spend big for as much certainty as possible, and Cousins succeeding with Shanahan again is as close as it comes.

The 49ers have the gold, and their patience will pay off, too, as they will gladly pay Cousins in 2018.