Friday morning essentially put the nail in the coffin of Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins being traded to the Cleveland Browns. Although Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer does not believe that to be entirely true, it is abundantly clear Cleveland has picked Joe Flacco instead, at that price. Breer's latest post touched heavily on what is going on between Cousins, the Falcons and the next team he will play for.
At the end of Breer's explanation of what all is going on, he concluded by saying the next-best, and perhaps last-best, team Cousins could be traded to is the Pittsburgh Steelers. He understands that the Steelers have a need for a new starting-level quarterback, but he questions if the pieces will fit. There is a lot to unpack here, but there are a few things that could be getting in the way of a potential trade.
The first is that Cousins does not want his immediate replacement to be drafted by the team he goes to. (In short, he does not want to go to a team that picks the next Michael Penix Jr.) The second is it still seems like veteran free agent Aaron Rodgers remains the Steelers' preferred option over Cousins. And the third is Atlanta does not seem dead-set on trading Cousins as much as everyone else likely wants them to.
The first two are obvious with Cousins' no-trade clause and Rodgers months-long flirtation with Pittsburgh, but the last one is a new revelation.
What hold-ups exist to get Falcons QB Kirk Cousins onto the Steelers?
Cousins has the ultimate trump card to play here. He plans on using his no-trade clause as a weapon to get his way and hurt the Falcons. Not until Cousins sees all the dominoes fall in the 2025 NFL Draft will he waive it and allow the Falcons to finally and mercifully trade him. Again, the Steelers are his best option, but it seems like they would rather sign Rodgers instead.
What Breer did a fantastic job of explaining is how Cleveland preferred Flacco over Cousins, at least at each respective price point. That is everything: Money talks, and other stuff walks. Cousins and Flacco may share a previous working relationship with Cleveland head coach Kevin Stefanski, but the Browns gave Flacco a one-year deal worth $4 million and up to $13 million in incentives rather than dealing for Cousins' hefty contract.
Breer hinted that Atlanta did not seem all that interested in eating roughly $13 million of Cousins' salary for the 2025 NFL season. That is some really good inferencing by Breer, as Atlanta clearly wants Cousins' new team to take on much of his upcoming salary should he be dealt. Simply, Atlanta is not going to trade Cousins and eat all of that money, just so the Falcons can get a better draft pick.
Again, Atlanta looks incredibly foolish here in not being able to read the room. The highest perch in Flowery Branch is still looking up at most of the rest of the league. You know what happens to birds who hang out near the bottom of a tree, right? It may be gross, but not as gross as how poorly Terry Fontenot and his Atlanta front office staff bungled this situation. They better hope Penix is a star.
To bring it all back home, Cousins does not want to get Penix-ed again, Pittsburgh may still prefer Rodgers over him, and Atlanta may not be as gung-ho about trading him right now to begin with. For Cousins to end up on the Steelers, or any team for that matter, all three parties involved will need to cooperate. Sadly, too much stubbornness on Atlanta and Cousins' side keeps on getting in the way.
I still like Cousins' chances of getting traded before Week 1, but it may not come until July or August.