Kirk Cousins’ best bet at this stage might be to avoid signing for a team and wait for a starter to go down injured.The quarterback is probably the best option left in free agency and finished the season looking back to somewhere like his best with the Atlanta Falcons.Cousins looked like he had fully recovered from his Achilles tear in 2025GettyBut Cousins, who has earned $331 million in his career so far, was priced out of a job with Kyler Murray and Tua Tagovailoa available at the veteran minimum $1.3 million.The Falcons will roll with Michael Penix Jr. and took a shot on Tagovailoa, while Murray may end up replacing J.J. McCarthy with the Minnesota Vikings.Geno Smith is back with the New York Jets in favor of Justin Fields, who took the position of keeping Patrick Mahomes‘ seat warm if the Kansas City Chiefs talisman misses the start of the seasonThat leaves few — if any — starting roles available.The Pittsburgh Steelers are still waiting on Aaron Rodgers to sign on the dotted line and could offer a viable opportunity if the great decides to retire instead.There is also the potential for a short-term gig as a bridge quarterback to Fernando Mendoza after he presumedly joins the Las Vegas Raiders first overall.According to Sports Boom’s J.L. Canfora, Cousins’ best option might be to wait for the pads to come on and an inevitable injury.“Several executives have noted Cousins’s past ties to head coach Kyle Shanahan (San Francisco) and Sean McVay (Los Angeles Rams), and believe Cousins could be a welcome addition as a back-up there… but at this point it seems unlikely Cousins would go that route without exhausting any opportunity to start,” he wrote.“Every year some team suffers a devastating quarterback injury during spring practices or training camp, and some teams that draft quarterbacks in the top few rounds also tend to find out pretty quickly that the prospect is not going to be ready to contribute early in the season. “It might require one of those situations to emerge for Cousins to find his next club unless Rodgers opts to retire.”Cousins could earn more with a microphone in his handGettyRodgers retiring would open up an ideal landing spotGettyKirk Cousins set for broadcast role after retirementAt this point in his career, the 37-year-old could probably earn more to talk about football than play it.Tom Brady‘s $37.5 million annual salary with FOX Sports is out of reach, but Tony Romo’s $18 million-a-year CBS Sports package could be in the right ballpark.Cousins was already being talked about as a future pundit before standing in for Matt Ryan on CBS after the Falcons icon was named the franchise’s President of Football.He did well and drew rave reviews, with many suggesting he could make the switch sooner rather than later.NFL insider Dan Graziano shut down those rumors, however.“Cousins wants to play this season; I was told the rumors of him potentially retiring to take a TV job are incorrect,” Graziano wrote for ESPN on March 1.NFL's Greatest......Ranking the top 10......Quarterbacks of all-time – Can anyone better Tom Brady?Wide receivers of all-time – Does Randy Moss or Jerry Rice come out on top?Running backs of all-time – Stacking Jim Brown, Barry Sanders, Walter Payton, Emmitt Smith and moreTight ends of all-time – How does Travis Kelce compare?“But he could be selective about his next destination. The past two times Cousins was a free agent, he received deals from Minnesota and Atlanta quickly.“But this time, Cousins likely will wait to see how some of these situations shake out before deciding — even if that means waiting through the offseason for some team’s situation to change in his favor.”Cousins doesn’t appear to be ready to call time on his career just yet, but the veteran is in no hurry to make up his mind despite father time ticking away.Stay up to date with the latest from the NFL across all platforms – follow our dedicated talkSPORT USA Facebook page and subscribe to our talkSPORT USA YouTube channel for news, exclusive interviews and more.