5 dream Pittsburgh Steelers free agent targets if money was no object

1. Kirk Cousins, QB (Minnesota Vikings)

Here's where things get a little bit tricky. Sitting at the No. 20 overall pick, the quarterback options for the Steelers without an unbelievably aggressive move up well into the Top 10 is going to be questionable at best. It looks as if the Top 4 quarterbacks in the class -- Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, Jayden Daniels, JJ McCarthy -- will be off the board by the time they're on the clock, while Bo Nix would feel like a lateral move from Pickett and Michael Penix Jr. has some concerns as well.

Since Pittsburgh hired Arthur Smith, much of the discussion about the Steelers quarterback situation has understandably turned its focus to the possibility of signing veteran Ryan Tannehill. With another change of scenery and reuniting with Smith, who he thrived with in Tennessee, this feels like it could be a positive stopgap option for the franchise.

But this is a roster that, overall, is capable of big things if they have some upside at quarterback. Whereas Tannehill would feel an awful lot like biding time before making another big decision, a guy like Kirk Cousins would feel like the Steelers were going for it with a big push, if they could afford his fully guaranteed, nearly $50 million per year wishes, of course.

Cousins is coming off a torn Achilles suffered in 2023, which does raise questions about his availability in 2024 and how many games he'll actually be able to play. When he does return, though, the though of him playing with George Pickens and Diontae Johnson, among others, in this Steelers offense would dramatically raise the ceiling of that unit. That could be enough to put Pittsburgh in real contention come the postseason, which is the ultimate goal at the start of any year.

It's nearly impossible to make it work to get Cousins to Pittsburgh in the real world. But when you throw the financials aside, the fit is arguably better than anywhere else in the league.