With Kirk Cousins being benched by the Atlanta Falcons in favor of rookie Michael Penix Jr., the NFL media world is already trying to figure out Cousins’ future landing spot. With the Pittsburgh Steelers set to have zero quarterbacks under contract beyond the 2024 season, Cousins will be a natural link to Pittsburgh.
Mike Florio thinks the Steelers are one of the top landing spots for Cousins.
“Think about this, they’ve got Justin Fields under contract the rest of the year. They’ve got Russell Wilson under contract the rest of the year. They got both of them for nothing. Like their entire quarterback depth chart was making less money than Mason Rudolph,” Florio said via Pro Football Talk on YouTube. “If you can do this again, and you can bring in Kirk Cousins to run your offense and play Steelers football with Arthur Smith, there’s just something there that continues this idea of, ‘You know what? We’d like to get a long-term franchise quarterback. We haven’t found one yet. So let’s just get a guy who, dollar for dollar, is a hell of a value.'”
If there is a strong case to be made for a possible Cousin-Steelers union in free agency — this is assuming the Falcons cut ties with him after this season — it would be that the Steelers just went through this same song and dance during the last free agency period. Russell Wilson was available for $1.21 million on the veteran minimum contract because the Denver Broncos still owed him nearly $40 million. Cousins’ base salary is $27,500,000 fully guaranteed next year, so he could probably be acquired for the veteran minimum next year as well.
If the Steelers want to run it back with cheap quarterback options so they can further bolster the rest of their roster, then Cousins would be the best option. At least short of drafting a rookie, which they won’t be in position to do with a playoff spot already locked up this year.
Cousins is the same age as Russell Wilson, but he has played significantly worse this year after moving from the Minnesota Vikings to the Falcons on a massive four-year contract. Most thought the results would be flipped with a great season for Cousins while Wilson proved that he is washed up as a starter. It has been quite the opposite.
Wilson is having one of the better seasons of his eventual Hall of Fame career while Cousins is having easily the worst of his. In 14 games, Cousins has thrown for 3,508 yards with 18 touchdowns and 16 interceptions. It started out okay, but he has just one touchdown to nine interceptions over the last five games. The Falcons have lost all but one game during that span.
So why would the Steelers take that risk? Well, they’ve already proven they can get the most out of quarterbacks viewed to be washed up. Offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, if he remains with the team, has a track record of turning around the careers of veterans like Wilson and Ryan Tannehill. The cheap quarterback contract would allow the Steelers to sign a big-name wide receiver or cornerback (or both) to help fill in the gaps toward making it a complete roster.
I don’t think this one is in the cards as much as a case can be made. The Steelers have two quarterbacks who might make more sense to re-sign already on the roster. Reports indicate that the Steelers and Wilson want to do business together in free agency, so I don’t see a reason why they’d go against that to take a big risk on Cousins. But then again, I was very wrong about the Steelers signing Wilson last March.
