One Team in Particular Is Monitoring Kirk Cousins
The Pittsburgh Steelers are unofficially being held hostage by Aaron Rodgers’s gruesomely unpunctual decision-making, and if Rodgers ultimately decides to retire, Kirk Cousins could be the Steelers’ fallback plan.
Pittsburgh may need a contingency plan, and Cousins is firmly in the conversation.
That’s the word recently from NFL insider Jason La Canfora, who claimed that Cousins is Pittsburgh’s current insurance policy.
The Steelers Continue Weighing Cousins as a Backup Plan
Cousins could start after all in 2026.
La Canfora: Steelers Keeping an Eye on Cousins
In article explaining that Cousins may not find a new team until after the NFL draft, La Canfora mentioned, “While several GMs told me they believe the Falcons would have been far better off keeping Cousins as their starter for this season, Atlanta did not attempt to bring him back, the sources said, and at this point it might make the most sense for him to wait until inevitable injuries occur, rather than make a decision now.”
“Cousins is not going to be signing anywhere for the veteran minimum, and there are fewer options available to him now. Pittsburgh is monitoring Cousins and view him as a viable alternative if Aaron Rodgers opts to retire.”
If not Cousins as the contingency plan, the Steelers are down to Joe Flacco, Russell Wilson, and Jimmy Garoppolo from free agency, in addition to their incumbent second-year passer, Will Howard.
Rodgers’s Cringeworthy Delay
Before the 2025 regular season began, reporters naturally asked Rodgers if the campaign was his final, and he hinted affirmatively. The first year in Pittsburgh lined up as his final season in the pros, per his lips.
Then, after the Steelers lost in Round 1 of the postseason, he told the media that he wouldn’t make a rushed decision about his future, waiting for the raw emotion to burn off before locking in his return or retirement. That was 2.5 months ago.
Fast forward to late March, and Rodgers continues to lollygag, refusing to notify the public of his plans, despite fearlessness over appearing on national programming like ESPN’s The Pat McAfee Show. It’s also worth noting that Rodgers and his predecessor for the Green Bay Packers, Brett Favre, are the only two NFLers to do this — get to the offseason for multiple years during their career twilight and then just have everyone guess about what they might do.
It’s utterly bizarre.
Raiders as a Bridge Spot for Kirk
On Cousins, suppose Rodgers returns, postponing retirement and guaranteeing the 2027 offseason brings another “Will he or won’t he?” regarding retirement. Cousins would look for a new landing spot, and the Las Vegas Raiders might make sense if probable first overall pick Fernando Mendoza isn’t quite ready to start Week 1.
La Canfora noted on Vegas an option for Cousins, “Las Vegas is still looking for a more established quarterback to buy them time if they need it, if presumptive first-overall pick Fernando Mendoza is not ready to start Week 1.”
The Raiders’ new skipper is Klint Kubiak, and he crossed paths with Cousins in Minnesota. The only quarterback — at all — on Las Vegas’s roster at this very moment is Aidan O’Connell. The Raiders traded Geno Smith to the New York Jets. Some teams, like the Vikings, have four quarterbacks in March. The Raiders have one.
The Other Teams?
If it’s not the Steelers or Raiders, Cousins might be down this list of destinations:
- Arizona Cardinals
- Cleveland Browns
- Indianapolis Colts
- San Francisco 49ers
The Cardinals have Jacoby Brissett and Gardner Minshew ready to do battle for the QB1 job this summer — not an ideal combo unless a team is outwardly tanking. The Browns have three quarterbacks — which means they could have none in a practical sense — in Shedeur Sanders, Deshaun Watson, and Dillon Gabriel.
Colts quarterback and former Viking Daniel Jones is recovering from a busted Achilles, and Indianapolis may trade Anthony Richardson to a team like the Green Bay Packers. The San Francisco 49ers? Why not trade Mac Jones to a team like the Arizona Cardinals for a 2nd-Rounder and sign Cousins for cheap as the QB2?
La Canfora on the 49ers and Los Angeles Rams as landing spots for Cousins: “Several executives have noted Cousins’s past ties to head coach Kyle Shanahan (San Francisco) and Sean McVay (Los Angeles Rams), and believe Cousins could be a welcome addition as a back-up there (or perhaps with Andy Reid in Kansas City), but at this point it seems unlikely Cousins would go that route without exhausting any opportunity to start.”
Cousins will turn 38 in August and ranked as the NFL’s 10th-worst quarterback last season per EPA/Play.
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