Don’t believe the Kirk Cousins to Steelers talk

Fowler, who used to cover the Steelers beat before moving on to being a league insider, never said that the Steelers were pursuing Cousins. Like many others, he’s purely speculating that Pittsburgh is still searching for a more stable quarterback solution than Mason Rudolph or sixth-round rookie Will Howard, since free agent veteran Aaron Rodgers has yet to announce his plans for the upcoming season.

Rodgers has been the hot name connected to the Steelers since his services became available back in March. With new head coach Aaron Glenn in New York, the Jets decided to move in another direction and release Rodgers. Ever since, the Steelers and the former four-time NFL MVP have been linked, with Rodgers having visited the team on a six-hour trip back in April.

Everyone from Steelers general manager Omar Khan, head coach Mike Tomlin, and team president Art Rooney II has been questioned about Rodgers joining the team, with none of them being shy about wanting his services or having offered him a contract. Still, news of an inked Rodgers contract remains nil as the team heads into OTAs, leading the sports media to grasp at other straws.

Looking around the league, there aren’t many viable options remaining for the Steelers, should they not want to stand pat with Rudolph, Howard, and former Miami Dolphin Skylar Thompson as their quarterback room. Sportswriters have naturally gravitated toward Cousins as the next available option, as his contract is prohibitively expensive for a player scheduled to play as a backup.

Last offseason, the Falcons signed Cousins, coming off a season-ending Achilles injury, to a four-year, $180 million contract. Atlanta shocked the world weeks later by also drafting Washington Huskies standout QB Michael Penix Jr. eighth overall in the 2024 NFL Draft.

The Penix acquisition was a surprise, given the amount of money the Falcons guaranteed Cousins. Yet, Cousins’ contract was an afterthought when the team fell out of playoff contention with a four-game losing streak through December. The veteran was benched in favor of the rookie, as Penix started the final three games of the season.

The odd situation in Atlanta now has Cousins as an expensive luxury: as a backup Cousins is due a guaranteed $27.5 million in 2025. His cap number is $40 million, and he carries a dead cap hit of $75 million.

Clearly, this is a poor financial situation for a team to be in, leading many to believe the Falcons will eventually trade their former starter. To date, however, Atlanta has doubled down in stating they do not have interest in dealing Cousins – a fact Fowler alluded to in the video above – and is content with having veteran experience behind the developing Penix.

That doesn’t mean the Falcons won’t make a move, but all leaks out of the ATL indicate they are unwilling to eat any of Cousins’ salary. In addition to this year, Cousins carries a $57.5 million cap hit in each of the next two seasons through 2027.

That’s a hefty price tag for a team to pay for a 37-year-old quarterback who had a down season that also followed a previous season shortened by a critical injury. Add in trade compensation that’s at least mid-round draft picks – and a no-trade clause – and the Cousins situation becomes nearly untouchable.

However, that hasn’t stopped second-tier and lower news sites from grabbing Fowler’s headline and running with it. If you caught the news anywhere but the source, you’d believe the Steelers have a genuine interest in trading for Cousins. The believable reason is that sports media, including Fowler, have been trying to place any available quarterback in Pittsburgh since the end of the 2024 season.

Remember when Justin Fields was as guaranteed to sign with the team as Aaron Rodgers is now? That’s how we should all approach the Cousins story, too: with a grain of salt.

Could there be interest from the Steelers? I’m sure there have been discussions because they’re smart enough to consider all options. I’m confident they’ve thought about Cousins’ huge contract and the significant trade assets that would need to be involved. But one item I haven’t discussed here is, above all, the biggest deciding factor: the veteran’s recent play.

Cousins was a consistent 4,000-plus-yard passer in the NFL, but he last tallied those numbers in 2022. If he weren’t benched for Penix with three games remaining last season, he may have exceeded those totals again in 2024.

However, the reason he was benched goes beyond yards. Cousins had his most interceptions as a pro (16) last season. His cumulative stats hide his struggles, too. A 500-yard passing game with four touchdowns and another four-touchdown performance accounted for all but ten of his passing TDs. He had five games with only one touchdown pass and another five with none.

Worse, he threw one touchdown to nine interceptions throughout his final five games played.

To give you an idea of how pedestrian Cousins’ numbers were, Russell Wilson played three fewer games in 2024 and had 16 TDs to 5 INTs. Like Cousins, Wilson failed to have gaudy yardage totals, topping 300 only once. Cousins did so three times, but his other games were mixed with spotty quarterback play. He averaged 250 yards per game, 25 fewer than Wilson.

Cousins also fumbled the ball 13 times, despite taking only 28 sacks. (A credit due to his fantastic Falcons offensive line.)

In summation, the overblown story of Cousins wearing black and gold this season should be quickly put to rest. His age, injury history, lack of production, and large contract make him a considerable risk to trade for any draft picks. The Steelers would then be stuck with an expensive three-year deal for a quarterback who may never play up to those expectations.