{"id":650599,"date":"2026-01-03T12:01:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T12:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/650599\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T12:01:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T12:01:12","slug":"pittsburgh-steelers-connected-to-180-million-quarterback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/650599\/","title":{"rendered":"Pittsburgh Steelers connected to $180 million quarterback"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The Pittsburgh Steelers could see their season end on Sunday should they lose to the Baltimore Ravens and choke away the AFC North after holding a three-game lead over Baltimore earlier in the season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">No matter the result, the Steelers will have questions surrounding the quarterback position for the third straight offseason. Aaron Rodgers is going to be a free agent and may retire. If the Steelers don\u2019t retain the four-time MVP, 2026 will mark the sixth consecutive season in which the Steelers have had a different Week 1 starter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">While many expect the Steelers to draft a quarterback, <a href=\"https:\/\/bleacherreport.com\/articles\/25343517-5-nfl-teams-should-try-trade-falcons-kirk-cousins-2026-offseason\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Kristopher Knox of Bleacher Report<\/a> labels Pittsburgh as a potential landing spot for Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">\u201cThe Steelers don\u2019t, however, have a clear long-term quarterback plan,\u201d Knox writes. \u201cThey\u2019re currently riding with 42-year-old Aaron Rodgers, though his plan upon joining Pittsburgh was to make this his final season\u2026 If he decides to hang it up\u2014or opts to take his last ride with a different team\u2014Pittsburgh will be right back in the quarterback market. Unfortunately, the Steelers aren\u2019t going to end up with a draft position high enough to land one of the top QB prospects in April. Like Rodgers, Cousins is a pure pocket passer at this stage in his career, and he\u2019d slot right into the system we\u2019ve seen coordinator Arthur Smith run this season. He might not be an upgrade over Rodgers, but he probably wouldn\u2019t deliver an offensive decline either\u2014especially if the Steelers can upgrade their supporting cast.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Cousins has started seven games in 2025 in relief of Michael Penix, throwing nine touchdowns and four interceptions. The four-time Pro Bowler signed a $180 million deal with the Falcons in 2024, but was benched in the final month of the season. The Falcons are 4-3 in games that Cousins has started in 2025.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Be sure to bookmark Behind the Steel Curtain for all the latest news, breakdowns, and more!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pittsburgh Steelers could see their season end on Sunday should they lose to the Baltimore Ravens and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":650600,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[7,6,520,57,2374,12052,2360,426],"class_list":{"0":"post-650599","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-nfl","10":"tag-pittsburgh","11":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","12":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers-news","13":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers-rumors","14":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","15":"tag-steelers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115831064767833684","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=650599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650599\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/650600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=650599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=650599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=650599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}