Few gigs are as sweet as being a backup quarterback in the NFL unless you’re used to being a starter. After a decade of doing just that, Kirk Cousins now finds himself being paid $180 million just to hold a clipboard on Sunday afternoons.
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However, the NFL’s premiere insider, Ian Rapoport, believes that the twilight years of Cousins could be better spent by mentoring the upcoming first overall pick of the 2025 NFL Draft, Cam Ward.
During his most recent appearance on The Rich Eisen Show, the long tenured journalist noted that, if Tennessee were to move on from their backup QB in Will Levis, then the Titans could be a premiere spot for Cousins.
“If you’re a team that’s looking for a backup quarterback in the draft, I don’t know where these nine quarterbacks are going to go, but there’s not enough for all of them… If you’re the Titans… Wouldn’t Cousins make sense? …If they did end up moving from Will Levis, they would need a backup quarterback. That to me is a possible landing spot for Kirk Cousins.”
While the move would require Cousins to waive his no trade clause, and also come to grips with the fact that he is no longer considered to be a starting caliber QB in the NFL, Rapoport suggests that it could create an ideal environment for the Titans’ newfound prospect. While there’s certainly a lot of “ifs” in Rapoport’s suggestion, he did highlight that the aforementioned Levis could still net the Titans some sort of return on the open market.
Citing Levis’ prior draft capital, Rapoport was willing to go as far as describing Levis as a “high-end” backup. Considering that the Titans are increasingly obligated to move on from the Kentucky product, it’s likely that they would use a similar talking point during negotiations.
“If you’re a team that needs a backup, you like fairly high end talent, I mean, Will Levis was considered to be a first rounder by many people… Then trading for Will Levis with a pick swap or a late round pick on Saturday for the draft, or Friday, that would make some sense.”
The Falcons would likely be thrilled to offload Cousins’ contract onto someone else as well. With the Michael Penix Jr. era officially underway, the franchise has little to no need for such a highbrow backup quarterback.
Moving off of Cousins’ monstrous deal won’t be easy, but there could be a few unsuspecting buys on the market. The Cleveland Browns seem to have a propensity for overpaying lackluster QB talent, making them a prime candidate for Atlanta’s next trade partner.
Should the Browns decide that they’ve done enough damage to their franchise, however, there are still some other candidates. The Pittsburgh Steelers find themselves slugging through negotiations with Aaron Rodgers, and are likely frustrated.
Signing Cousins could allow for Pittsburgh to circumvent the drama related to Rodgers altogether, saving Mike Tomlin from a fair amount of headaches. The Las Vegas Raiders could prove to be a dark horse candidate as well, given that the Geno Smith experiment goes horribly wrong.
The rest of the NFL world may not be fully sold on the former Seahawk, but Las Vegas certainly seems to be. If they manage to bust, then Cousins could serve as insurance, albeit at a premium.
Suffice to say, trading for Kirk Cousins seems to be a move reserved for those that are purely desperate to win now. The talent does not match the contract figures, making him one of the most costly and toughest sales of free agency.
Nevertheless, the 13-year veteran is likely content to continue showing up just to collect a free check and wear his team’s colors, regardless as to who that may be.
