For those focused on a player "honoring their contract", remember that the NFL owners do not care about the players - not one bit. They fought for decades to keep brain injuries from being researched, knowing that they were killing players. Contracts are designed to pay only during the first few years so they can discard a player at no cost if they are injured or if their performance slips. Players are generally addicted to pain killers when they leave the NFL because they are encouraged to play injured, and often lose their job if they are not willing to do so.
If any other workplace treated employees like the NFL treats employees, they would be sued out of business. NFL contracts are totally one sided. overthecap.com estimates that less than 20% of all NFL multi-year contracts make it through to conclusion, mostly because owners walk away from the contracts when it is to their advantage. But players are not supposed to try to renegotiate? Players are not "honoring" their contracts? The players union in the NFL is a joke. The players have no idea how weak their union really is.
Kirk Cousins may have just changed expectations of high value players. He just signed a 3 year contract worth $84MM, and it is fully guaranteed. Players like Julio Jones have taken note and want similar contracts. There is even talk among players of a willingness to take less per year if their entire contract were fully guaranteed. Frankly, I am not sure why the NFL won't shift to this model. Forget the risk of injuries - other sports buy insurance to cover their losses if they lose a player to injury during a contract. That insurance would be more expensive in the NFL because players are more than 5 times more likely to suffer a career ending injury, but the costs could be offset by lower player salaries.