The Pittsburgh Steelers are still waiting to hear whether Aaron Rodgers wants to be their starting quarterback in 2025, and they may be keeping tabs on another veteran as a backup plan.
Steelers president Art Rooney II made it clear this week that the team has not moved on from Rodgers, saying Pittsburgh is willing to wait “a little while longer.” All indications have been that Rodgers remains the Steelers’ top choice, but are they ready to hand their offense over to Mason Rudolph in the event that Rodgers turns them down?
During a Saturday morning appearance on “SportsCenter,” ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler said he has been told the Steelers have not ruled out pursuing Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins.
“I had some conversations with people this week that led me to believe that Cousins is at the very least on the Steelers’ radar, if something were fall through on Rodgers,” Fowler said, via Adam Wells of Bleacher Report.
The reporter noted that Cousins still has $37.5M in guaranteed money remaining on his contract, which complicates any potential trade.
“They haven’t shown a lot of interest in trading Cousins, it would take a hefty price tag for another team to wiggle that out. As one source told me, if they were willing to take a small percentage, like let’s say $7M or $8M of that money, a deal would be done by now,” Fowler added. “There was interest earlier in the offseason. Right now, Pittsburgh might be the only hope for Cousins or he’s stuck in Atlanta.”
The Steelers begin organized team activities on May 27 and mandatory minicamp on June 10. There is a chance they could be willing to wait until training camp in July for Rodgers to make a decision, but it goes without saying that they would like clarity sooner rather than later.
Cousins would be an incredibly expensive backup for the Falcons behind Michael Penix Jr. Atlanta’s feeling is likely that they owe Cousins so much money that there is no reason to cut him, though a strong argument can be made that they are better off moving forward without him.
