Steelers Keep Waiting on Aaron Rodgers, Kirk Cousins Signals He Is Ready if Pittsburgh Needs a Plan B

The Pittsburgh Steelers have done just about everything this month except the one thing that determines how the rest of their offseason makes sense: lock in a quarterback.

The team is still waiting on Aaron Rodgers to decide whether he wants to play in 2026, a decision that has lingered into late March with Pittsburgh operating as if it has time, even as the rest of the quarterback market thins out. The Steelers’ new head coach, Mike McCarthy, has acknowledged the obvious storyline if Rodgers ends up in Pittsburgh, calling it “a great story,” while also making clear there is no announcement to offer.

That uncertainty has created space for one of the league’s most experienced alternatives to stay in the conversation: Kirk Cousins.

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Cousins has been positioned as the veteran who could remain available until Rodgers makes up his mind, and the Steelers have been repeatedly linked as a logical landing spot if they decide they can’t keep waiting. The basic reasoning is simple: if Rodgers doesn’t sign, Pittsburgh’s current options are longtime backup Mason Rudolph and second year quarterback Will Howard, and neither has been treated publicly as the clear Week 1 answer.

Cousins, meanwhile, has been letting it be known he wants another shot to start. The idea circulating around the league is not subtle: if Pittsburgh misses on Rodgers, Cousins becomes the cleanest plug and play veteran left who can credibly run an NFL offense and keep a team in contention without retooling the roster around a developmental timeline.

The Steelers’ posture has been patience, at least publicly. Rodgers has said in recent weeks that he has no contract offer and no deadline from Pittsburgh, which helps explain why the calendar keeps moving without a decision. At the same time, former Steelers quarterback Charlie Batch has suggested the hold up may come down to money, with his view that there is mutual interest but a gap in expectations.

Rodgers is 42. Cousins is 36. The Steelers are not shopping for the future here. They have been building a roster that looks like it expects to compete right now, which is why the quarterback delay stands out. Pittsburgh added wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. earlier this month to pair with DK Metcalf, a move that reads like a team trying to give a veteran quarterback a real set of targets rather than a placeholder group.

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The Rodgers McCarthy angle is the part that keeps the situation in the news cycle. McCarthy coached Rodgers in Green Bay from 2006 through 2018 and was asked again this week about the possibility of a reunion. He didn’t provide a timetable or an update, but the quote that stuck was the one that admitted how loud it would be if it happens.

That is where Cousins becomes more than idle chatter. Pittsburgh can afford to wait if it believes Rodgers is eventually walking through the door, but waiting always has an opportunity cost. Training time matters. Install time matters. And every day that passes shrinks the number of realistic veteran options who can step in without the franchise changing its entire plan.

The Steelers are also dealing with the reality that if Rodgers says no, they would be making their decision late by choice, not by surprise. That is why Cousins remains a relevant name even without a formal move: he is available, he wants to start, and the Steelers are still operating without a firm answer at the top of the depth chart.

Until Rodgers decides, Pittsburgh is stuck in the most familiar NFL offseason posture: building everything around a quarterback who isn’t technically on the roster yet, while keeping a veteran fallback in the background in case the “great story” never actually gets written.

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