Steelers Named Landing Spot for Four-Time Pro Bowl QB

The Pittsburgh Steelers seem quite committed to running with a quarterback competition in the 2024 season that includes Kenny Pickett. But that does not stop analysts from theorizing that the team should and maybe even could look to make a massive splash at the position.

That is true for Pro Football Focus, who want to see the Steelers move on from Pickett. Instead, they would like to see the team invest in the quarterback position and try to land Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins.

:Pittsburgh has said it’ll bring in competition for Kenny Pickett heading into 2024, but this wouldn’t be competition, it would be the starting job, so perhaps Cousins is too big a fish,” they wrote.

Cousins, 35, is attempting to recover from a torn Achilles suffered in late October that ended his 2023 season. Cousins said last week that he intends to be ready to play and practice for the start of Organized Team Activities, or OTAs, which start in early May.

Cousins will be a free agent after he signed a one-year contract extension worth $35 million in fully guaranteed money for the 2023 season back on March 13, 2022. He was last a free agent in 2018, when he first signed in Minnesota after being drafted by the Washington Redskins. It’s not clear the salary range that Cousins will demand this time around.

He’s been highly productive the last few seasons in Minnesota, posting four 4,000-yard seasons and four years of over a 100 passer rating in his six seasons in the Twin Cities. Though his 2023 season was cut short, he was playing some of his best football, with his 103.8 passer rating the second-highest of his career and his 63.5 QBR his fourth-highest and best since 2016.

While they are likely to bring in competition for Pickett, it seems likely that the Steelers will aim lower than Cousins, who likely would want to be assured of the starting job wherever he signs.