The 37-year-old four-time Pro Bowl signal caller is still on the market.
Among the multitude of storylines to come out of the 2026 NFL owners meetings at Phoenix’s Arizona Biltmore this week—since the NFL’s new league year officially opened earlier this month, a handful are still looking for work.
Said group includes the journeyman signal caller. Cousins, 37, was released by the Falcons in mid-March as they’ve decided move forward with a double lefty quarterback room in Michael Penix Jr. and Tua Tagovailoa, and will now look to join his fourth team since being drafted by Washington in 2012. One team, the, has already made it known that they’d be interested in Cousins’s services in 2026. “We do need to be able to add another guy into that room,” coach Sean McVay admitted on Monday during anwith Mike Florio and Chris Simms. “And that’s something that we’re looking at. Obviously, people make some of the connections with Kirk , and if it doesn’t work out with Jimmy , that’s definitely something that– you know I have tremendous respect for … know he’s got some other options and some other suitors, but Jimmy and Kirk are guys that I’d love to be able to have back with us.”For those unfamiliar, McVay was Washington’s offensive coordinator from 2014 to ‘16, which overlapped with Cousins’s opportunity to become their starting quarterback under coach Jay Gruden. McVay expanded on their relationship while “Kirk and I experienced a lot of first things together,” he explained. “And so there was a real, foundational relationship. His success and really the success we were able to have as a team was instrumental in getting an opportunity to get to L.A. So I’m forever indebted to him … Kirk was awesome and he’s played at a high level. He’s a starting quarterback in this league, it’s just a matter of what he’s looking for, what the situation is. If there is some interest in us, Kirk, come see us man! We’d love to have you.” Needless to say, the Rams bringing Cousins in—behind reigning MVP Matthew Stafford, of course—would be a slam-dunk signing. He’s experienced, knows what McVay wants to do on offense and is a proven winner at the NFL level who would give L.A. a competent backup plan in the event of an injury to Stafford. That said, and as McVay alluded to, Cousins also has other options and suitors. Here are three other teams that would make sense for him in 2026.The Packers could use a backup quarterback behind Jordan Love. | Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images While the Packers already have their starting quarterback in Jordan Love, they lost one of the league’s top backups,As he did with McVay, Cousins overlapped with Green Bay head coach Matt LaFleur during his time as the quarterbacks coach in Washington. He’s familiar with the Packers’s West Coast-adjacent offense and would provide them an insurance policy behind Love, who’s missed time in two of his first three seasons as Green Bay’s full-time starter.with the No. 1 pick in late April. That said, they have only one quarterback on their roster in Aidan O’Connell as they head into the draft.among them—have seen more at the position than Cousins. The seasoned veteran would be the perfect mentor for Mendoza as he gets his feet wet at the professional level. An added bonus? New Raiders coach Klink Kubiak worked with Cousins as his quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator while the two were with the Vikings.The Steelers hired Mike McCarthy to replace Mike Tomlin. | Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images If they don’t end up bringing back Aaron Rodgers as their quarterback in 2026, the Steelers will have to pivot at the position—even if their plan is toMike Kadlick is a contributor to the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI in November 2024, he covered the New England Patriots for WEEI sports radio in Boston and continues to do so for CLNS Media. He has a master's in public relations from Boston University. Kadlick is also an avid runner and a proud lover of all things pizza.
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