Going into the 2025 NFL season, there has been no shortage of storylines. Cam Ward went No. 1 overall in the NFL Draft to the Tennessee Titans and is expected to have a good future. Shedeur Sanders — son of the legendary Deion Sanders — saw his draft stock plummet before being snagged up by the Cleveland Browns in the fifth round (after they already drafted a QB in the third). And right now, Micah Parsons is sitting out of OTAs following a contract dispute with the Dallas Cowboys.
But what about Aaron Rodgers and Kirk Cousins? The veteran QBs both find themselves in different situations that might have similar solutions. Rodgers is a free agent following a disastrous spell with the New York Jets. And though he is still under contract, Kirk Cousins is in the shopping window following a rough season with the Atlanta Falcons.
Both players have been connected to the Pittsburgh Steelers, as well as the Minnesota Vikings, going into the 2025 NFL season. But how would they do in these environments? And what are some other places they can land?
Using Madden 25, we ran some simulations. Each player got a turn to play for each team. To preserve the integrity of each simulation, we set all of the Franchise settings to auto, except preseason cuts to ensure each had a season. Here were the results.
Pittsburgh Steelers
Aaron Rodgers Fades Into Obscurity With Steelers
In our simulation, Aaron Rodgers had easily the worst season of his Hall of Fame career, not accounting for the entirety of 2023, which he missed due to injury. Rodgers started every game, but failed to make a positive impact. Though 3,537 yards isn’t bad per se, throwing 26 interceptions to only 24 touchdowns is. The veteran QB completed 66% of his 486 pass attempts, amassing an abysmal 81.6 quarterback rating. Not being benched for this is truly insane.
With such putrid play from the QB position, the Steelers couldn’t manage to keep their heads above water. On the season, the Steelers finished 8-9 (which would give Mike Tomlin his first-ever losing season as a head coach), missing the playoffs and finishing third in the AFC North. While they seemed to match up decently against most teams, their 1-5 divisional record was the difference.
Funny enough, things didn’t start too badly — the Steelers won 5 of their first 6 games. Rodgers didn’t do phenomenally during this stretch, muddying a good 10 TDs with 7 INTs. But it was enough to keep them in it. Where the Steelers fell apart was on the backstretch.
After a great 7-2 start, the Steelers went on to lose 7 straight games. They would win their season finale, but by then, the damage was done.
Overall, really poor from Rodgers. But what about Kirk Cousins’ performance?
Kirk Cousins Doesn’t Make The Steelers A Playoff Team
So, let’s get this out of the way first: In the simulation, does Kirk Cousins have a better season with the Steelers than Aaron Rodgers? Well, yes, but it’s still pretty insignificant. After starting every game, Cousins threw for 3,464 yards. His 28 touchdowns to 15 INTs are respectable, but his 64% completion percentage on 488 total attempts says that despite not giving away the ball nilly nilly like Rodgers did, he still couldn’t reliably hit passes.
Despite getting a decent performance from Cousins — and a 1,000+ yards rushing season from Jaylen Warren — the Steelers still faltered and finished 8-9. Only this time, the story was even weirder.
Unlike under Rodgers, the Steelers under Cousins excelled in the division, winning 5 of their 6 games against their fellow AFC Northmen. However, they struggled with consistency. The Steelers went 3-3 in their first six games. Following that, however, the Steelers would go on to lose three straight and never recover. They seesawed for the rest of the season, ultimately finishing on the wrong side of the playoffs and a winning record.
Minnesota Vikings
Now that we’ve got the Steelers out of the way, we’ve also run simulations based on Rodgers or Cousins finding their way to the Minnesota Vikings. And the results were interesting, to say the least.
To sum it up, one simulation saw a decent regular season almost result in a Super Bowl appearance. The other was an absolute disaster.
Aaron Rodgers Has a Massive Resurgence With The Vikings
Unlike any of the sims we did with the Steelers, Aaron Rodgers actually put together a really good season with the Vikings in this simulation. In a stunning return to form, Rodgers eclipsed 4,000 yards, threw for 39 touchdowns, completed 71% of his 495 attempts, and finished with an impressive 112.6 quarterback rating. Top that off with 238.8 yards per game, and you’ve got an excellent season from a veteran QB.
Outside of that, Aaron Jones finished with 1,148 yards on the ground. So the Vikings’ offense was all around good.
Unlike the simulation we did with the Steelers, the Rodgers-led Vikings did finish with a winning record of 10-7, good for second (behind the Packers) in a very competitive NFC North and a playoff berth. It wasn’t smooth sailing, though. As in the Steelers’ sim, the Vikings started hot, going 10-2 in their first 12 games. Then, a dip in form followed, with the Vikings losing three straight. In fact, they only won 5 of their last 6 games. But it was still enough to sneak into the playoffs, where every team has a chance.
But how did they do in the playoffs? Better than you would expect from a team that limped into them.
In the Wild Card round, the Vikings pulled off an upset over the No. 2 seed San Francisco 49ers, 24-18. Then, they beat the No. 1 seed Cowboys i the Divisional round by a score of 24-17. Under Rodgers, the Vikings preposterously made it all the way to the NFC Conference Championship game.
Unfortunately, by this point, Minnesota could no longer find a way to punch above their weight and were blown out by a score of 42-27 by the rival Green Bay Packers. The fairy tale run had come to an end, but by all metrics, the season was an overwhelming success.
The Vikings Faltered With Kirk Cousins
Unfortunately, the Vikings under Kirk Cousins weren’t nearly as successful in our simulation as they were under Rodgers. In fact, things were much worse, with Minnesota finishing their season at 5-12. But that wasn’t completely Cousins’ fault.
While Captain Kirk was nowhere near as effective as Rodgers was — especially in terms of yardage — he wasn’t comically bad either. Despite throwing for an underwhelming 3,478 yards (which was fifth worse in the league), Cousins did manage to throw 34 touchdowns. He also completed 66% of his passes on 451 attempts.
That said, where Cousins failed was in his 17 interceptions. Sure, throwing two touchdowns for every interception is OK, but not much more than that. Overall, the 28th-ranked offense in the league is very unlikely to lead to playoff glory. Neither is the 23rd-ranked defense.
Wildcard Simulations
In the spirit of fun, we decided to do some additional simulations. As suggested by our fearless leader, Chase Becotte, we did one sim where Cousins ends up in the Browns’ already crowded QB room. To make room, we cut Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, and Dillon Gabriel. For Rodgers, we slapped him on the New Orleans Saints squad, where he’ll compete with veteran Derek Carr and rookie Tyler Shough.
Kirk Cousins Gets Benched In Disaster Season With Browns
The Cleveland Browns are no strangers to disasters. And their season under Kirk Cousins was no different. In fact, Kirk was so bad, he was benched for rookie Shedeur Sanders after a huge 45-7 Week 8 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. After that, Kevin Stefanski had seen enough. Overpaid laughing stock Deshaun Watson didn’t see a single snap.
So, how bad was Kirk Cousins in this sim? Well, pretty damn bad. In 8 games, he threw for only 1,383 yards, 9 TDs, 9 INTs, and completed only 58% of his passes on 229 attempts.
Overall, neither QB made a huge difference as the Browns finished their season 3-14. The word “putrid” immediately comes to mind.
Aaron Rodgers Performs Decently, But Saints Fall Short
Unlike Kirk getting benched for a rookie, Rodgers played all 17 games of the New Orleans Saints’ season. And to be completely fair, he was decent. He completed 68% of his 516 pass attempts, threw for 38 touchdowns with 16 picks, and collected a respectable 102.8 quarterback rating. Finishing with just under 4,000 yards passing, it was nothing to write home about, but far from bad. Unfortunately, it didn’t help.
The Saints finished 5-12. Alvin Kamara was able to get a respectable 1,015 yards on the ground with 5 TDs, but Kendre Miller and rookie Devin Neal couldn’t find a way to help contribute. The Saints also had the 29th-ranked defense in the league, which did little to bolster the 23rd-ranked offense.
