Pittsburgh Steelers fans are aware that the team could be left to pursue Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins if free agent Aaron Rodgers - for whatever reason - chooses not to sign with the Steelers.
Yes, we know that the faded four-time MVP Rodgers has dropped an assortment of hints about his plan to land in The Steel City and to sign the one-year, $30 million contract offer that awaits him.
And yes, we know that the Steelers seem quietly confident that it's all going to work out.
But ...
NFL Network personality Rich Eisen is offering another angle here, and it's a sharp and problematic one.
"If you feel (Rodgers is) just going to leave you at the altar, well, what that does is it puts you over a barrel in a negotiation to get somebody like Kirk Cousins," Eisen said (h/t Steelers Depot. "The minute you lift the phone and call Terry Fontenot and ask, 'What about Kirk Cousins,' he knows you're concerned about Rodgers not showing up.
"So, you're over a barrel already."
This rings harsh but true, and it takes us back to Rodgers claiming that he's "not holding anybody hostage.''
That's not true. And Rodgers - who prides himself on his incomparable intellect - is at least smart enough to know that.
If he doesn't pull the trigger on the move to Pittsburgh ... at whatever preferred date anyone chooses to pinpoint? The Steelers will be calling Falcons GM Fontenot, and they will be doing it with a shortage of leverage.
It seems as if the 41-year-old is waiting until the last possible moment to make a decision about whether or not he will play with the Steelers ... maybe just because he finds participating in OTAs to be beneath him.
Or maybe it's about his new romance. Or his "inner circle's'' cancer battle. Or he's got another foreign vacation planned.
But even though the Steelers players have already tried to downplay this, there is a good chance he's already caused some damage in the locker room.
And if the Steelers are "over a barrel''? He's going to cause some damage in the front office, too.