Heading into the offseason, it was widely assumed that the Atlanta Falcons would find a trade partner for Kirk Cousins. After all, the conditions now are much different from when he signed a four-year, $180 million contract.
For one, Michael Penix Jr. was drafted with the eighth overall pick just over a month later. Then, the gloves came off once the Falcons benched Cousins in place of Penix for the final three games of the 2024 season.
While Cousins wasn’t able to help transform the Falcons’ offense in his first season in Atlanta, he’s still believed to be a starting-caliber quarterback in a league that doesn’t have enough high-caliber options.
Teams like the Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers, and New Orleans Saints would likely all benefit from adding Cousins. Yet, the Falcons have hung onto their expensive backup QB, who’s set to have a cap hit of $40 million in 2025.
Recently, ESPN’s NFL insider Jeremy Fowler explained a bit about what’s happening with Cousins’ status in Atlanta, and the stubbornness the Falcons have operated with. Perhaps what’s most interesting is the fact that Fowler says the four-time Pro Bowl QB is “on the Steelers’ radar” as a potential fallback solution for Aaron Rodgers.
“I had some conversations with people this week that led me to believe that Cousins is at the very least on the Steelers’ radar, if something were fall through on Rodgers. Now, here’s how they could make that happen. Cousins has $37.5 million in guarantees between this year and next year. Somebody’s on the hook for that, whether it’s Atlanta or someone else. So to facilitate a trade, Atlanta would need a team to offset some of that money, whether it’s $4 million, $20 million, whatever it is, but the feeling around the league is that Atlanta has not been willing to budge on this. They haven’t shown a lot of interest in trading Cousins, it would take a hefty price tag for another team to wiggle that out. As one source told me, if they were willing to take a small percentage, like let’s say $7 or $8 million of that money, a deal would be done by now. There was interest earlier in the offseason. Right now, Pittsburgh might be the only hope for Cousins or he’s stuck in Atlanta.”
ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler on Atlanta Falcons/Kirk Cousins
If Rodgers does decide not to join the Pittsburgh Steelers, pivoting to a trade for Cousins would make a lot of sense for a team with playoff aspirations. Yet, based on Fowler’s reporting, the Steelers better be prepared to fork over some extra cash in the process.
