Various reports around the NFL world on Wednesday morning indicated that Washington Redskins head coach Mike Shanahan has made the decision to bench franchise quarterback Robert Griffin III in lieu of Kirk Cousins for their Week 15 tilt with the Atlanta Falcons. 

The writing seemed to be on the wall here for a while, as Shanahan has hinted that Washington may be prepared to shut an ineffective RGIII down for the remainder of the season. The dynamics here, however, involve much more than just Shanahan and the franchise quarterback. There appears to be a  growing rift between the coach, the quarterback and owner Daniel Snyder with Shanahan likely going to battle alone, via the Washington  Post. 

 "A person with ties to the organization said late Monday that Shanahan’s announcement about possibly sitting down Griffin appeared to be an attempt by Shanahan to provoke Snyder to fire him this week to avoid such a benching of Griffin."

It's pretty clear at this point that Washington plans on cutting ties with Shanahan either before the season draws to a conclusion or immediately following Washington's Week 17 finale. 

At 3-10 and in last place in the NFC East, none of this really matters when it comes to the playoff race or what Washington plans on doing moving forward. It does, however, impact those of us who are currently in fantasy football playoffs.  

Cousins has played well in limited time during his short career and will be lining up against an Atlanta Falcons defense that ranks 23rd in the NFL against fantasy quarterbacks and possesses the worst pass-rushing unit in the entire league. It's highly unlikely that you currently have Cousins on your team in any standard re-draft format, but he could be worth a shot in Week 15. This is only magnified by the fact that struggling veteran cornerback Asante Samuel will be lining up against Pierre Garcon in this one. If Cousins has the necessary time in the pocket, he should be able to find Garcon on a consistent basis. 

Looking solely at matchups and how Cousins has performed in limited NFL action, and it's easy to draw the conclusion that he should get the nod over some who were relied on at the start of the season as potential bottom-tier QB1 options or have been hot commodities as of late. 

While I am in no way indicating that you should start Cousins over Brady, this is an interesting dynamic to look at. Washington's offensive scheme will change a tad to fit the pocket passer, and it should have a positive impact on Cousins performances. It's somewhat foolhardy to look at performances from previous seasons, but that's all we have to work off of when it comes to Cousins. When he saw the field in 2012, Cousins made an alarming fantasy impact, even if it was just in one start. 

He went 26-of-37 for 329 yards with two touchdowns and one interception in a season-saving Week 15 victory over the Cleveland Browns. This was good enough to rank Cousins No. 9 overall among quarterbacks that week. 

Far be it for me to recommend that you start someone you would be picking up off the waiver wire in the fantasy playoffs. With that said, I have more confidence in Cousins putting up near-QB1 numbers than I do Eli Manning or Mike Glennon this week. If you are in  tough spot either due to injury or lackluster play from the quarterback position, Cousins may actually save your fantasy football season. 

Stay tuned to eDraft for an extensive write up on the long-term ramifications of the RGIII benching from a dyansty perspective. 

Also check out Jay Marks first article for the site. He compares the embattled Redskins quarterback to Colin Kaepernick in the latest in a series of "Defining Dynasty" articles here on eDraft.