Kirk Cousins Reportedly on Steelers' 'Radar' Amid Aaron Rodgers Rumors in NFL FA

As the Pittsburgh Steelers wait for Aaron Rodgers to make a decision, they are also keeping an eye on Kirk Cousins' situation with the Atlanta Falcons.

Appearing on the Saturday morning edition of SportsCenter, ESPN's Jeremy Fowler reported that Cousins is "at least" on Pittsburgh's "radar" at the moment even though Rodgers remains the team's preferred choice:

“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."

There's no indication right now that Rodgers is any closer to making a decision about playing in 2025 or retiring.

Steelers president Art Rooney II had a vague response when asked at the NFL league meetings this week where things stand with Rodgers.

Rooney previously said in a radio interview during the draft that Rodgers "does want to come" to Pittsburgh and they "may get word soon."

The Steelers will begin OTAs on Tuesday, with the first session running through Thursday. They will return for the second round from June 3-5 before holding their three-day mandatory minicamp from June 10-12.

June 1 could be a key date for Cousins' trade talks to start heating up. The Falcons can save $27.5 million against the 2025 cap if he is traded after that date.

As Fowler noted, though, Atlanta has to be willing to eat some of the remaining money on Cousins' deal to facilitate a deal. His situation is further complicated by the fact his contract has a full no-trade clause, allowing him to control where he goes.

Pittsburgh would seem to fit Cousins' criteria of allowing him to start. Its current quarterback depth chart includes Mason Rudolph, Will Howard and Skylar Thompson.

If there is going to be any sort of hard deadline for the Steelers before they decide to move on from Rodgers, which they haven't indicated there will be, it would presumably be when they report to training camp.

The Steelers haven't officially set their report date, but NFL clubs typically open camp around the final week of July.

At some point the Steelers have to get Rodgers—or Cousins, if they go that route—onto their roster so they can go over the playbook for offensive coordinator Arthur Smith's scheme and build a rapport with the pass-catchers.