Mark Madden's Hot Take: Kirk Cousins trade speculation an absurd proposition for Steelers

Former NFL GM Michael Lombardi said the Pittsburgh Steelers should trade for Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins. One local radio talk show seized that scrap and thrashed about for the best part of an afternoon. Steelers X, of course, went bonkers.

Cousins to the Steelers has zero chance of happening. It’s a totally absurd proposition with no basis in fact. The teams never will discuss it.

The Steelers took QB Kenny Pickett in the first round of last year’s NFL Draft. Pickett is their guy. Until he’s not. But Pickett isn’t a bust yet.

The Steelers, with Cousins, still would be unlikely to win a playoff game, let alone a Super Bowl. It would be a dramatic trade for the sake of nothing. The Steelers would retard Pickett’s progress to indulge a rental that wouldn’t help enough. (Matt Canada would still be the offensive coordinator, don’t forget.)

On top of being a dumb move, it’s not the sort of thing the Steelers do.

Yet, the “possibility” got discussed too much.

That’s because we’re way too concerned about sports.

This nonsense absolutely wasn’t meant to be discussed 24/7/365. But because that’s happened, there’s lots of time and space to fill.

So, we indulge fiction. We treat things that definitely will not happen as legit possibilities to be considered. (I don’t.)

In my lifetime, we’ve gone from two hours of sports talk per day (Myron Cope’s show on WTAE-AM) to all-day continuous inescapable repetitive blather exemplified by ESPN’s six-hour block of non-stop yelling and mugging from 8 a.m.-2 p.m.

I’m not sure that transition flatters sports or anybody involved. It serves greed, not passion.