With Aaron Rodgers still yet to make a decision on his future and whether or not he’s going to play for the Pittsburgh Steelers, the team has been [linked to Atlanta Falcons QB Kirk Cousins over the past few weeks](https://steelersdepot.com/2025/06/defabo-steelers-would-at-least-have-the-conversation-about-trading-for-kirk-cousins-at-right-price/) as a potential fallback option to Rodgers. Cousins signed a four-year, $148 million contract last offseason but was benched in favor of Michael Penix Jr. late in the 2024 season, and ESPN’s Peter Schrager believes trading for Cousins at this point in the offseason is a “desperate move.” Schrager [said on Get Up this morning](https://www.espn.com/espnradio/podcast/archive?id=22943353) that the timing feels desperate since it’s a trade the Steelers could’ve made earlier this offseason.
“They could’ve traded for Kirk Cousins in March. They could’ve traded for Kirk Cousins in April. To me, this seems like a desperate move to now say, ‘Ok, we will pay the Kirk Cousins salary and we’ll eat all this cost and we’re gonna bring him in.’ To me, it’s you’re with Mason Rudolph and Will Howard right now and you’re waiting on Rodgers, but you did this to yourself. Kirk Cousins is gonna be a better option than Mason Rudolph with that salary?”
It’s hard to argue with Schrager’s line of thinking. The Steelers knew what they were getting into by setting their sights on Rodgers. If they do pivot to Cousins and have to pay most of his salary, it’ll look desperate. Neither Cousins nor Rodgers represents a long-term answer at quarterback, but if they sign Rodgers, it would likely just be a one-year deal. Trading for Cousins and taking on any part of his future salary doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, especially given the way he struggled down the stretch in 2024.
It would make more sense for the Steelers to roll with Mason Rudolph for the season and reset in 2026 if Rodgers doesn’t sign, rather than trying to acquire Cousins to make a run in 2025. Cousins isn’t good enough to make the Steelers a Super Bowl contender, and while Pittsburgh is always going to be a win-now team, Cousins won’t move the needle to get the Steelers over the hump. It would be a short-sighted move and one that signals their continued failure to find a real solution at quarterback.
Rodgers isn’t going to be a cure-all either, but he at least played better in the second half last season and would be a one-year place setter at quarterback before the Steelers presumably look to the draft in 2026 to find their quarterback of the future. Neither quarterback is at the same level as they were at this point in their career, but pivoting from Rodgers to Kirk Cousins really wouldn’t be ideal and, as Schrager said, desperate.