The Pittsburgh Steelers are a possible destination for one of the more established veteran quarterbacks in the NFL.
As the Steelers enter the 2022 season, they’ll likely do so without Ben Roethlisberger, their quarterback over the past 18 years. While that will be a tough pill to swallow, the Steelers will field a playoff-caliber roster with an extremely young core of players on the offensive side of the ball.
Pittsburgh has three options: draft a quarterback, start holdovers Mason Rudolph or Dwyane Haskins, or trade/sign a veteran quarterback.
If the Steelers go with the latter option, they could be looking at the Minnesota Vikings‘ Kirk Cousins. With one year left on his deal and Minnesota appearing to enter a rebuilding phase with the firing of head coach Mike Zimmer and general manager Rick Spielman, the Vikings will likely be in seller mode.
Why Steelers Are Considered a Top Option
According to The Athletic’s Chad Graff, the Steelers — along with the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers — would be the “top options” in a possible trade for the two-time Pro Bowl quarterback. The reason being that the Steelers are one of just a few teams that could reasonably afford Cousins’ $35 million salary for the 2022 season.
“The $35 million cap hit a team would incur by taking on Cousins would be 16.8 percent of the projected $208 million salary cap for 2022,” said Graff. “Very few teams have the space to take on a player with that large of a hit.
Because of that, the number of teams capable of making a trade for Cousins without the Vikings taking on additional money is slim. The top options for a Cousins trade seem to be the Broncos, Steelers and Panthers, with a couple of other teams perhaps marginally interested. The Panthers wouldn’t have enough cap space to incur an additional $35 million. The Broncos and Steelers barely would, but that’s without factoring in free agents or a rookie draft class.”
Graff also goes on to mention how Cousins’ trade value would likely be two Day 3 picks in the 2022 NFL Draft.
Considering Cousins’ massive salary hit — even if it’s just for one season — it’s hard to envision the Steelers making a play for the 33-year-old quarterback.
If Cousins had a smaller cap hit, he’d be more of a realistic acquisition.
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Tomlin on Steelers’ Next QB: ‘I’m Excited About That’
As the Steelers prepare for the post-Roethlisberger era, head coach Mike Tomlin doesn’t sound too nervous.
In fact, he almost sounds excited by the idea.
During media availability on Tuesday, January 18, Tomlin spoke of the “challenge” of finding the Steelers’ next franchise quarterback.
Via Brooke Pryor of ESPN:
“I’m excited about that — that challenge,” Tomlin said. “Those of us that are competitors are. It’s a challenge, man. It kind of makes you uneasy. But I’ve learned to run to those challenges. I’ve learned to appreciate those challenges. The uncertainty surrounding them is inspiring to me in terms of producing work.”
Tomlin also left open the idea that Rudolph or Haskins could eventually emerge as the starter for the 2022 season.
“Mason and Dwayne have had their moments, but they’ll have to prove that,” Tomlin said. “And not only in the team development process but through playing itself. They’re guys that start that I wouldn’t characterize as every-day starters. And so they’ll be given an opportunity to establish themselves, and there’s going to be competition. There always is.
“I think that both guys have positioned themselves to fight that fight with what they’ve done from a work standpoint and a professionalism standpoint in 2021.”
We don’t know who will open the season as the Steelers’ starting quarterback for the 2022 season, but all options are definitely on the table.
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