Feb. 7, 2026, 6:04 p.m. ET<\/p>\n
A potential 2026 quarterback option for the Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> is being made available, per ESPN\u2019s Adam Schefter.<\/p>\n On Saturday, Schefter reported that the Atlanta Falcons were expected to release veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins before the start of the new league year in March, giving the Steelers<\/a> a solid backup plan if Aaron Rodgers<\/a> chooses not to return to Pittsburgh in 2026.<\/p>\n Per Schefter, Cousins\u2019 $67.9 million due in 2027 would become guaranteed if he remained on the Falcons\u2019 roster at the start of the new league year in March.<\/p>\n Cousins signed with the Falcons in 2024 after his outstanding six-year stint with the Minnesota Vikings<\/a>. Atlanta, however, would draft quarterback Michael Penix in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft just one month after signing Cousins, blindsiding the veteran QB.<\/p>\n While Cousins wasn\u2019t as successful with the Falcons as he was with Minnesota, he presents the Steelers with a potentially solid stop-gap option if all other 2026 quarterback plans fall through.<\/p>\n Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n For up-to-date\u00a0Steelers\u00a0coverage, including any offseason moves, follow us on X\u00a0@TheSteelersWire<\/a>\u00a0and give our\u00a0Facebook page<\/a>\u00a0a like.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Feb. 7, 2026, 6:04 p.m. ET A potential 2026 quarterback option for the Pittsburgh Steelers is being made…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":737680,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2055],"tags":[95878,7,6,520,57,2360,96718,96719,426,96675,95882,95892,95893,97157,96194,95988,95888,95895,95906,96720,96071,95883,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-737679","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-steelers","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-pittsburgh","12":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers","13":"tag-pittsburghsteelers","14":"tag-sstssportsnflsteelers","15":"tag-sstsnsteelers","16":"tag-steelers","17":"tag-tagaaron-rodgers","18":"tag-tagamerican-football","19":"tag-tagespn-inc","20":"tag-tagfacebook","21":"tag-tagkirk-cousins","22":"tag-tagmichael-penix-jr","23":"tag-tagminnesota-vikings","24":"tag-tagnfl","25":"tag-tagnfl-hub","26":"tag-tagoverall-positive","27":"tag-tagpittsburgh-steelers","28":"tag-tagsmg-timely","29":"tag-tagsports-news","30":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116034141437969524","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737679","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=737679"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/737679\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/737680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=737679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=737679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=737679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}