Easily the top free agent on the market given his position and track record, former Vikings QB Kirk Cousins cashed in down in Atlanta.
Agreeing to a four-year, 180 million dollar deal with $100m in guarantees, Cousins’ lucrative career earnings are seeing yet another bump.
But whether it was the price tag or just the player, the Pittsburgh Steelers never looked into Cousins according to Mike Tomlin:
Didn’t take a look
Mike Tomlin says they didn’t look at Kirk Cousins in the free agency process.
— Brooke Pryor (@bepryor) March 25, 2024
To me, this was a fairly obvious admission by Coach Tomlin. Sure you can say you exhausted all options and aimed to leave free agency with a better team than when you entered it, but everything has a cost, and Cousins was expensive.
On top of that, Pittsburgh was interested in bringing in competition, or a veteran backup for Kenny Pickett at the start of free agency.
Now how things went down in that situation is its own dilemma, but the signing of Cousins would have sent a clear sign…
There would have been no competition. You don’t pay that kind of money to a player with his status to ride the bench.
And no matter which way you want to frame how things went down after the Russell Wilson signing, signing a starter to unseat Kenny Pickett was never the initial plan.
So whether it be financial or fit, Couisns was always unlikely to don the black and gold, with Coach Tomlin confirming it as the league owners’ meetings.
