{"id":581236,"date":"2026-02-11T02:37:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T02:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/581236\/"},"modified":"2026-02-11T02:37:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T02:37:15","slug":"analyst-predicts-three-notable-names-who-will-sign-with-steelers-in-free-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/581236\/","title":{"rendered":"Analyst Predicts Three Notable Names Who Will Sign With Steelers In Free Agency"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s hard to believe it, but free agency is just about a month away. With the Super Bowl over and done with, the focus shifts to the scouting combine in a couple of weeks. The new league year begins in March, with the Steelers then being allowed to talk to players in free agency.<\/p>\n

For the Steelers, there are a couple of players they might have trouble keeping around. Kenneth Gainwell should have a market after a terrific 2025 season. There\u2019s also Calvin Austin III out wide. And, of course, the quarterback room is currently looking slim, as Aaron Rodgers has yet to decide his future.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot of talk recently<\/a> about Rodgers returning to the Steelers, though. To Fox Sports\u2019 Greg Auman, it\u2019s a reunion that makes sense. In a post published Tuesday, Auman ranked the top-100 upcoming free agents, and predicted which teams they might land with. He ranked Rodgers 12th and predicted him to return to Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n

\u201cRodgers hasn\u2019t made a Pro Bowl in the last four years, but his 2025 numbers (24 touchdowns, seven interceptions) weren\u2019t bad. If he\u2019s willing to come back on a team-friendly deal like the one-year, $14 million deal he played on last season, he\u2019s in a good position to help Pittsburgh compete in a wide-open AFC North in 2026,\u201d Auman wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There are many reasons Rodgers makes sense. For one, he played well enough last season to get the Steelers to 10 wins. If Pittsburgh can put more talent around him this year, he should have success in an offense he knows well.<\/p>\n

There also simply aren\u2019t many other options. The Steelers probably aren\u2019t going to find their own reclamation project<\/a> on this offseason\u2019s quarterback market. And if they did want to draft a quarterback or develop Will Howard, having Rodgers stick around for another year would make sense.<\/p>\n

Another free agent Auman predicted to land in Pittsburgh was safety Bryan Cook, whom he ranked 29th.<\/p>\n

\u201cCook, 26, is the model for low-key under-the-radar coverage skills without splash plays. He has three interceptions in four seasons in Kansas City, one sack and zero forced fumbles, but he\u2019s solid and consistent enough as a defender to be Pro Football Focus\u2019 No. 5 safety in 2025.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bryan Cook is one of the more underrated players the Steelers could be looking at in free agency. The former second-round pick just finished up his rookie contract, and while he\u2019s not coming off the best statistical season, he did come away with six passes defended in 2025. With the lack of depth Pittsburgh currently has in its secondary, he could make some sense.<\/p>\n

Finally, Auman predicted his 57th-ranked free agent, Rico Dowdle, would sign with Pittsburgh as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cCarolina leaning on Chuba Hubbard down the stretch could have him signing elsewhere. Would Mike McCarthy like him for a Dallas reunion in Pittsburgh?\u201d<\/p>\n

Dowdle is another underrated free agent. He had a good season with McCarthy in Dallas in 2024, then went to Carolina and had some nice moments in 2025. If the Steelers were to lose Kenneth Gainwell, Dowdle could be another option in the backfield. But Pittsburgh also has Jaylen Warren and Kaleb Johnson already in the room.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re still about a month away, but these three do make sense for the Steelers in free agency and are names to keep an eye on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s hard to believe it, but free agency is just about a month away. With the Super Bowl…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":557022,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[39],"tags":[2390,146171,41318,159777,1232,116400,62,939,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-581236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-aaron-rodgers","tag-bryan-cook","tag-fox-sports","tag-greg-auman","tag-nfl","tag-rico-dowdle","tag-sports","tag-trending","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116049677194020525","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581236","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=581236"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581236\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/557022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=581236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=581236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=581236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}