While the Pittsburgh Steelers did extensive work on this quarterback class, there is always the possibility they came away underwhelmed. Omar Khan said he really likes this quarterback class during his pre-draft press conference, but things are to be taken with a grain of salt during lying season. What if the Steelers forgo drafting a quarterback? Could Kirk Cousins come into play?
According to The Athletic’s Dianna Russini, the Steelers are among the teams having conversations with the Atlanta Falcons about Kirk Cousins’ availability in a potential trade.
“The Atlanta Falcons are having conversations with the Steelers, with the Browns, with the Vikings about what this could look like,” Russini said via Maggie & Perloff on YouTube.
Cousins is an overlooked wild card to factor in for the quarterback dominoes tonight. If a team feels good about landing him, it might be less likely to take a quarterback in the first round. According to Russini, that would be a dealbreaker for Cousins anyway.
“Kirk has to sign off on this,” Russini said. “Kirk has that no-trade clause, so he’s gotta be okay with it. So he’s gonna wanna talk to the team that is interested in trading for him, see what the situation is. Are they going to be going for a young quarterback? And is he gonna put himself back in a situation like we just saw in Atlanta.”
The implication there is that Cousins wants a relatively clear runway to start wherever he goes. He doesn’t want another situation like first-round QB Michael Penix Jr. nipping at his heels and the fan base cheering for the rookie every time Cousins messes up.
The factors that could influence a trade include how much of Cousins’ salary the Falcons are willing to retain to alleviate the financial burden on their trade partner. And in an inverse relationship with the financials, the amount of draft capital it would take to pry him away.
From where I stand, the Falcons don’t have a ton of bargaining power. They paid Cousins $100 million guaranteed and then picked up his roster bonus in March to dangle him as trade bait. I don’t know how sought after he is following his poor 2024 season. No team is going to want to take on a significant salary in a trade.
“I can tell you the Falcons do not wanna take on a lot of the salary,” Russini said. “It would be a later draft pick in exchange.”
Falcons GM Terry Fontenot told the media yesterday that they haven’t put a number on a potential salary split in a Cousins trade. He said this in response to a report that the Falcons want any potential trade partner to pick up $20 million of Cousins’ remaining $37.5 million this year.
The Steelers reportedly checked in on Cousins early in the process but decided against pursuing that possibility after asking around about him. Arthur Smith, of course, has ties to that locker room as their former head coach and Mike Tomlin is close friends with Raheem Morris, who succeeded Smith in Atlanta.
If the Steelers pass on a quarterback during the first two days of the draft, it seems like there is at least some potential for a Day 3 trade involving Cousins and Pittsburgh. Though that would be effectively shutting the door on Rodgers, which it didn’t seem like the Steelers were quite ready to do as of their pre-draft press conference earlier this week.
