Last offseason, the Pittsburgh Steelers had to wait months for Aaron Rodgers to make a decision on his 2025 season. In the interim, Kirk Cousins was floated as another veteran option in case Rodgers never signed with Pittsburgh.
While it could still take months, it feels like the Steelers won’t have to wait until June for a Rodgers decision again. Yet Cousins’ name has come up this offseason anyway. It was recently reported that the Atlanta Falcons plan to release Cousins, and some analysts already see the Steelers as a good fit.
Mike Florio is one of them.
“Now that he’s healthy, he can still sling it. And they had some big wins down the stretch. They beat the Bucs, they beat the Rams, in prime time. He’s gonna get paid. Won’t be a long-term deal, but he’s gonna get paid,” Florio said Thursday on his Pro Football Talk show. “I don’t know why the Steelers aren’t thinking maybe Cousins gives us a little better chance to win than a 42-year old Aaron Rodgers would.”
Rodgers and Cousins have gone through some similar things over the last couple of years. Rodgers tore his Achilles during the 2023 season and clearly was still getting comfortable at the start of the 2024 season. But he finished that year strong, landed in Pittsburgh, and put together a very respectable season in 2025. It took him a while, but Rodgers found his footing again and was able to lead an offense again after such a brutal injury.
That’s the path Kirk Cousins is hoping to follow. Cousins’ Achilles tear came halfway through the 2023 season. But he came back to start the 2024 season. He played 14 games, and while he clearly was still adjusting, he did win seven of them. Cousins then started eight games in 2025 and won the last four. But he wasn’t really explosive in those, throwing for over 200 yards in a game just twice the whole season.
If Cousins landed in Pittsburgh, the offense would be predicated on the quick passing game again. At 37-years-old and not too far removed from that Achilles injury, Cousins won’t be able to escape much. But he can still operate an offense, and his arm is capable of making some big throws.
That said, it still feels like Rodgers is probably a better choice. He had success in Pittsburgh last year and obviously has plenty of experience working with Mike McCarthy. It seems the Steelers are prioritizing Rodgers as well. But if something falls through there, Kirk Cousins is a name that could come up later this offseason.
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