Falcons are playing the Steelers like a fiddle thanks to spoiled Russell Wilson relationship

The Pittsburgh Steelers are stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Last season did not end how the Steelers wanted it to. After a blistering start, Russell Wilson (very predictably) fell apart down the stretch. We can debate over who deserves the majority of the blame — Russ himself, Arthur Smith, Mike Tomlin, Omar Khan, hell, George Pickens — but the Steelers' offense was not up to snuff against the AFC's heavyweights. It never was.

This summer, Pittsburgh is faced with a complicated choice: either re-sign Wilson and hope it goes more like the first half of last season, or venture into the unknown with a different aging vet weighed down by injury concerns and off-field baggage.

Aaron Rodgers is the name gaining steam in Steelers circles right now, but his stubborn patience in picking a new team could force Pittsburgh in a different direction. We've already seen several quality options pass the Steelers by. Geno Smith, Sam Darnold, Justin Fields. They're all off the table. Unless Pittsburgh wants to risk letting the rest of a small pool dry up, waiting weeks on end for Rodgers to come to a decision probably ain't the best path forward.

Enter the opportunistic Atlanta Falcons, who are playing chess not checkers with Kirk Cousins — a potential fallback option for the oh so desperate Steelers.

Falcons are leveraging Kirk Cousins' contract situation against the Steelers

The Falcons appear content to begin the 2025 season with Kirk Cousins on the roster as Michael Penix's backup quarterback. It's not ideal to stick your $180 million quarterback on the bench, but in terms of salary obligations, Atlanta's cap sheet is still fairly clean since Penix is so cheap.

Atlanta has $29.3 million committed to their top two quarterbacks next season. In a vacuum, without context, that sounds awfully good. Especially when both could start for a lot of teams. Cousins draws extra negative attention just because of his stature in the league and the unfortunate nature of how last season transpired, but the Falcons aren't overspending at QB.

Still, there's reason to believe Atlanta might like to move on eventually. There's no real benefit to cutting Cousins, even with a looming $10 million guarantee for 2026, which triggers on the fifth day of the NFL league year. Atlanta can offset that cost so long as Cousins banks more than $10 million on a new contract in 2026, which feels like a given. Too many offensive coordinators in today's NFL bow at the altar of Kirktober.

By keeping Cousins around and toying with future contract implications, Atlanta puts opposing front offices in a bind. Such as the Steelers, who now need to trade assets in order to acquire Cousins in 2025, rather than simply waiting on the Falcons to cut him, as was initially expected when Penix took over the starting gig.

As Yahoo's Charles Robinson speculates, Atlanta could be putting the squeeze on Pittsburgh. Folks in the Falcons organization "know some on the Steelers' coaching staff really would rather not have to turn back to Russell Wilson in 2025."

That's just smart business from Atlanta. The risk of holding Cousins hostage is marginal, even if he shows up to training camp less than enthused. Cousins is still good enough — or offers the illusion of being good enough — that teams with a QB void will trade for him. The Steelers might not want to wait on Rodgers, and could still lose out on that sweepstakes anyway. Russ, meanwhile, has other options and, well... let's call it "limited support" in Pittsburgh.

Cousins might just be the best option left for the Steelers, who don't have an avenue to drafting a starting-caliber quarterback nor many better options in free agency. It's worth monitoring.