The Pittsburgh Steelers likely have a “Plan B” if Aaron Rodgers doesn’t sign with them, but what that plan looks like remains to be seen.
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin has stated he would feel “comfortable” with Mason Rudolph as the team’s starter in 2025.
“That’s why we brought him back,” Tomlin said. “I’m comfortable with that. We’ve been there before. He’s a very capable guy.”
ESPN’s Dan Graziano touched on the subject of the Steelers sticking with Rudolph if they don’t sign Rodgers, and he says Pittsburgh feels it can be a playoff team with the former third-round pick and would likely roll with him in the event the future Hall of Fame signal-caller decides to do something else in 2025.
“They don’t hate Mason Rudolph. He helped them get to the playoffs two years ago with the way he played in December,” Graziano said. “They feel like Mason Rudolph can play quarterback well enough that they can be a playoff team because of their defense and their run game.
“So, I think if Aaron Rodgers shows up, they’re fine with it. I think if he doesn’t show up, they’re fine with it, and they don’t feel like they’re sitting here waiting for Patrick Mahomes to make a decision.”
However, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler believes that Atlanta Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins could be who Pittsburgh turns to if Rodgers doesn’t sign.
“So Rodgers Plan A, Kirk Cousins could be a viable Plan B,” he said. “I had some conversations with people this week that led me to believe that Cousins is, at the very least, on the Steelers’ radar if something were to fall through on Rodgers.
“Cousins has $37.5 million in guarantees between this year and next year,” Fowler added. “Somebody’s on the hook for that money, whether it’s $4 million, $20 million, whatever it is. But the feeling around the league is that Atlanta has not been willing to budge on this. They haven’t shown a lot of interest in trading Cousins. It would take a hefty price tag for another team to wiggle that out.”
The big roadblock for the Steelers having interest in a Cousins trade will likely be that guaranteed money left on his $180 million contract.
After all, Cousins is coming off a down season and there’s simply no guarantee he’ll be better than Rudolph at this point in his career, which makes taking on that money and giving up draft capital in the process a risky move.
Pittsburgh is going to want Atlanta to pick up a significant amount of Cousins’ money. But, based on Fowler’s reporting, it doesn’t look like the Falcons are keen on doing that, and that’s something that has been reported time and time again.
Barring something changing on that front, we’d expect the Steelers to stick with Rudolph if Rodgers falls through.
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