Entering the 2026 offseason, many teams around the league had very uncertain futures at quarterback, and the options were limited.
This resulted in Malik Willis being paid handsomely as the top available free-agent quarterback, while Daniel Jones was re-signed by the Indianapolis Colts after receiving the transition tag. Quarterbacks like Tua Tagovailoa and Kyler Murray were cut by their previous teams and hit the open market, but were very quickly signed. There are not many quarterback openings left, but one still has some uncertainty: the Pittsburgh Steelers.
NFL Insider Points to Pittsburgh Steelers as Potential Kirk Cousins Destination
After hiring Mike McCarthy to become the franchise’s next head coach, last season’s starter, Aaron Rodgers, made sense as an option for 2026. Rodgers and McCarthy have a long history together, and because the Steelers want to keep winning, this could be a good short-term fix.
As of now, Rodgers is still a free agent, and with him being 42 years old, retirement could and should be on the table for the quarterback. So the Steelers may need to pivot quickly, even though many of the top, or even second-wave, quarterbacks are now unavailable. With the 2026 NFL Draft being pretty weak at quarterback, getting a veteran to come in and set up drafting in a stacked 2027 class would be a smart decision.
One option that stands out for the Steelers is former Minnesota Vikings and Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins, and according to NFL insider Albert Breer, Pittsburgh could be the landing spot for the veteran quarterback:
“Kirk Cousins is in an interesting spot heading into the second week of free agency. He doesn’t have a home yet… And my sense is he’s considering three different paths for his next, and maybe final, step as a pro football player.”
“The first path has narrowed considerably, that’s the one to a starting job somewhere. There are two places, as it stands now, where that could happen for Cousins. One is in Las Vegas, as the placeholder for presumptive No. 1 pick Fernando Mendoza. The other would be Pittsburgh, if Aaron Rodgers decides not to come back (and we don’t have an answer on that yet, obviously).”
Breer also mentions the Las Vegas Raiders as another landing spot where Cousins could start right away, but as he also mentioned, there’s a good chance Fernando Mendoza takes over at some point this season. For the Steelers, there are much better odds that Cousins could stay as the starter all season.
After talking about the starting jobs, Breer talked about some other options Cousins could have this offseason:
“The second path would be to join a playoff team as a backup, which would give Cousins the best chance to play well if he did get to come off the bench. That could be the Rams, if Jimmy Garoppolo doesn’t re-sign, given Cousins’s background with Sean McVay.”
“The third path would be to wait. The risk there is that the right opportunity never comes along, but the payoff could be starting somewhere for a good team that’s dealing with a quarterback injury down the line.”
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If the Steelers’ job does get filled by Rodgers and the Raiders go in another direction, Cousins will be forced into the second or third path Breer laid out. He also listed the Kansas City Chiefs as a potential landing spot as a backup, but after the article was published, Justin Fields was traded to the Chiefs.
Whoever does end up with Cousins will be getting a starting-level quarterback in the NFL, ranking 30th overall in PFSN’s QB Impact Metric. He is not the old version of himself that could elevate an offense, but if a team needs him to just run one, that’s what he can do.
