{"id":849340,"date":"2026-04-02T13:56:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T13:56:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/849340\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T13:56:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T13:56:21","slug":"steelers-get-kirk-cousins-free-agency-decision-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/849340\/","title":{"rendered":"Steelers Get Kirk Cousins Free Agency Decision: Report"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t<img width=\"780\" height=\"439\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2253063893.jpg\" class=\"attachment-featured-image size-featured-image wp-post-image\" alt=\"Kirk Cousins\"   decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Quarterback Kirk Cousins&#8217;s agent, Mike McCarthy, shared on social media the signal-caller is signing a contract with the Las Vegas Raiders.<\/p>\n<p>If <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/nfl\/player\/kirk-cousins\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Kirk Cousins<\/a> was the <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/nfl\/pittsburgh-steelers\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a> backup 2026 quarterback plan to <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/nfl\/player\/aaron-rodgers\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Aaron Rodgers<\/a>, that\u2019s now off the table.<\/p>\n<p>Cousins\u2019s agent, Mike McCarthy, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MikeMcCartney7\/status\/2039692615138906289\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external nofollow\">posted on X<\/a> on Thursday morning the quarterback agreed to a contract with the <a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/nfl\/las-vegas-raiders\/\" title=\"Las Vegas Raiders\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"212239\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Las Vegas Raiders<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Within minutes, <a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/nfl\/\" title=\"NFL\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"212242\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NFL<\/a> insiders such as Dianna Russini, Ian Rapoport, and Adam Schefter confirmed the news, quote tweeting McCarthy\u2019s original post that congratulate Cousins.<\/p>\n<p>The Athletic\u2019s Dianna Russini posted on X that the Arizona Cardinals, Los Angeles Rams and <a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/nfl\/green-bay-packers\/\" title=\"Green Bay Packers\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"212240\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Green Bay Packers<\/a> also had interest in Cousins.<\/p>\n<p>Russini didn\u2019t mention the <a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/nfl\/pittsburgh-steelers\/\" title=\"Pittsburgh Steelers\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"212241\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a>, but the ramifications for the club is clear.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s re-sign Rodgers or expect a Mason Rudolph-Will Howard competition for the starting job in 2026.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cKirk Cousins to the Raiders just removed the Steelers potential backup plan in case Aaron Rodgers doesn\u2019t re-sign with them,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MarkKaboly\/status\/2039696562226364549\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external nofollow\">wrote Steelers insider Mark Kaboly<\/a>. \u201cIf, for some unforeseen reasons, Rodgers doesn\u2019t return to the Steelers, it\u2019s going to be Will Howard\/Mason Rudolph fighting for QB1.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kirk Cousins to the Raiders just removed the Steelers potential backup plan in case Aaron Rodgers doesn\u2019t re-sign with them.  If, for some unforeseen reason, Rodgers doesn\u2019t return to the Steelers, it\u2019s going to be Will Howard\/Mason Rudolph fighting for QB1.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/author\/dmholcomb\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dave Holcomb<\/a> is a sports reporter covering the NFL and MLB for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Pittsburgh Steelers, Philadelphia Eagles and Detroit Lions. Originally from Pittsburgh, Holcomb has covered college and professional sports for outlets including FanSided, Rotowire and Yardbarker.  <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/author\/dmholcomb\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">More about Dave Holcomb<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Steelers\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Quarterback Kirk Cousins&#8217;s agent, Mike McCarthy, shared on social media the signal-caller is signing a contract with&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":849341,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2055],"tags":[7,6,520,57,2360,426],"class_list":{"0":"post-849340","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-pittsburghsteelers","13":"tag-steelers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116335463429939517","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849340","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=849340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849340\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/849341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=849340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=849340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=849340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}