WASHINGTON — The 2018 NFL offseason officially begins March 14, and the Washington Redskins have plenty of work to do.

The Redskins have 18 of their own players headed for free agency, most notably quarterback Kirk Cousins and inside linebacker Zach Brown. Barring a crazy development (and yes, I’m aware that’s totally possible with the ‘Skins), the trade for Alex Smith means Cousins is surely gone.

So, we’re starting the exercise of prioritizing Washington’s needs by dispelling a couple of crazy notions.

First, I’m operating under the assumption the Redskins aren’t so wholly reckless as to try to franchise tag and trade Cousins (that foolishness would eat up $34.5 million of their $36.2 million in cap space for a move that probably wouldn’t play in their favor, since they’d have no leverage).

Secondly, I’m not assuming the Redskins are going to totally sit out free agency just so they can ensure themselves a compensatory third-round pick for losing Cousins.

If the ‘Skins valued third rounders that much, they wouldn’t have dealt one (in addition to a good, young cornerback) to acquire an older version of Cousins. Furthermore, the compensatory pick storyline is a bit overrated: The best compensatory selection in the last decade is safety Thomas DeCoud — and that’s by virtue of being the only such player since 2008 to go to a Pro Bowl.

Also, to be clear, I’m not advocating for the Redskins to spend on all of these players. Like a kid’s Christmas list, they should look at this as a position-by-position list of reasonable options.

So, here it is, in no particular order because, you know, they desperately need help in all of these areas.

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