March 28, 2026, 11:36 a.m. ET<\/p>\n
Kirk Cousins<\/a> has often been linked to the Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> as a 2026 alternative to Aaron Rodgers<\/a>, but one insider claims there was trade interest one year prior.<\/p>\n According to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network, the Steelers<\/a> were interested in trading for Cousins, but the Atlanta Falcons ultimately shot them down.<\/p>\n “Kirk Cousins is the one, and I know that they called on him last year, and the Falcons at the time didn’t want to trade him. Didn’t want to engage in trade talks, but now Kirk Cousins is free,” Pelissero said via The Rich Eisen Show<\/a>. “Cousins potentially could be an option if they pivot away from Aaron Rodgers, which hasn’t happened yet.”<\/p>\n Cousins signed with the Falcons in 2024 and was ultimately blindsided by the team’s decision to draft Michael Penix that same offseason. He was benched later that season and was reportedly looking for a fresh start in 2025, which the Steelers apparently heavily considered.<\/p>\n Now a free agent, Cousins could be the perfect replacement for Rodgers if the Steelers choose to give up on this never-ending waiting game.<\/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":"March 28, 2026, 11:36 a.m. ET Kirk Cousins has often been linked to the Pittsburgh Steelers as a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":840084,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2074],"tags":[95878,223,254,2554,224,7,6,96718,96719,96675,95882,95893,97157,95896,95888,95897,96720,96071,95883,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-840083","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-atlanta-falcons","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-atlanta","10":"tag-atlanta-falcons","11":"tag-atlantafalcons","12":"tag-falcons","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-sstssportsnflsteelers","16":"tag-sstsnsteelers","17":"tag-tagaaron-rodgers","18":"tag-tagamerican-football","19":"tag-tagfacebook","20":"tag-tagkirk-cousins","21":"tag-tagnational-sports","22":"tag-tagnfl","23":"tag-tagoverall-negative","24":"tag-tagpittsburgh-steelers","25":"tag-tagsmg-timely","26":"tag-tagsports-news","27":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116309911370727762","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840083","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=840083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/840084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=840083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=840083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=840083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}