With Matt Ryan leaving CBS for the Falcons, a Falcons (for now) player will be filling his seat.
CBS has announced that quarterback Kirk Cousins will join The NFL Today for the next two weekends of the postseason.
Last year, Cousins joined ESPN for the divisional round of the playoffs. He had been scheduled to appear on NBC’s Football Night in America during Atlanta’s 2024 bye week, but he later canceled.
Cousins has a future in media, if he wants it. For now, he’s in line to get paid yet again as a free agent in March. A recent tweak to his contract sets the stage for the Falcons to release him on March 11 or 12, putting him on the market in the early days of free agency.
In 2024, Cousins signed a four-year deal with the Falcons, which included $100 million in guarantees. A month later, the Falcons used the eighth overall pick in the draft on quarterback Michael Penix Jr.
Cousins was eventually benched late in 2024. After Penix suffered a season-ending ACL tear in 2025, Cousins started eight games, capping the year with a four-game winning streak, which included a pair of prime-time wins.
The Lions will interview former Falcons offensive coordinator Zac Robinson for their vacant offensive coordinator job on Thursday, Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports.
Robinson also interviewed with the Buccaneers for their offensive coordinator job.
Robinson spent five seasons with the Rams, rising from assistant quarterbacks coach to passing game coordinator/quarterbacks coach under Sean McVay. Robinson was the assistant quarterbacks coach with the Rams in 2019 when Jared Goff was the starting quarterback.
Robinson moved to assistant wide receivers coach in 2020 in Goff’s final season in Los Angeles. Goff became the Lions’ starting quarterback in 2021.
The Lions also have Giants interim head coach Mike Kafka, former Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel and Seahawks passing game coordinator Jake Peetz as candidates. The Commanders promoted David Blough to offensive coordinator after the Lions had strong interest in him.
The Commanders are hiring D.J. Williams as their quarterbacks coach, Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports.
Williams is the son of franchise legend Doug Williams, the Super Bowl XXII MVP in Washington’s 42-10 win over the Broncos. Doug Williams remains a senior advisor to the General Manager for the team.
D.J. Williams most recently was the quarterbacks coach for the Falcons, who fired head coach Raheem Morris after the season.
The younger Williams played quarterback for his father at Grambling and became an NFL assistant with the Saints in 2019. He joined the Falcons as an assistant quarterbacks coach in 2024 and moved into his current role in 2025.
The Commanders needed a new quarterbacks coach after promoting David Blough to offensive coordinator. Blough replaces Kliff Kingsbury, whom the Commanders fired at the end of the season.
The Giants are getting their young quarterback involved as they court John Harbaugh to be their next head coach.
Via NFL Media, Jaxson Dart was in the building and met with Harbaugh during the coach’s interview on Wednesday.
The No. 25 overall pick of the 2025 draft, Dart appeared in 14 games with 12 starts as a rookie. He finished the season having completed 63.7 percent of his passes for 2,272 yards with 15 touchdowns and five interceptions.
Dart, however, suffered multiple injuries and was checked for a concussion multiple times over the course of his rookie season.
Still, Dart displayed his potential to solidify himself as being a part of the Giants’ present and future. While his opinion may or may not hold weight, getting him acquainted with Harbaugh during the interview process is unlikely to be a detriment.
Having interviewed candidates to satisfy the Rooney Rule, the Giants can hire Harbaugh at any time. But multiple reports indicate that Harbaugh is still currently expected to meet with the Titans and Falcons about their vacancies this week before potentially taking any more meetings or making a decision about his destination.
Marcus Freeman’s name has come up for more than one job in this year’s coaching cycle.
But even though he was the favorite to land the Giants job at one point, Freeman has been consistent in saying that he’s continuing as the head coach at Notre Dame.
In a Wednesday press conference, Freeman was asked about the NFL rumors that have surfaced this offseason and the Fighting Irish HC spun them as being a net-positive.
“I’m the head coach at Notre Dame,” Freeman said. “I’ve said this before that individual recognition, individual success, NFL interest — those are all a reflection of team success and where this football program is. I’ve used some of the interest from the NFL to personally gain wisdom from maybe some of the G.M.s or front-office executives that you get a chance to talk to about your players, but also about what they view as a successful coach. Maybe it’s an NFL coach, but what are some of the things they’ve seen that have made a coach successful in their organization or franchise — and maybe not so successful.
“So, I utilize these opportunities through conversations to gain knowledge myself to be the best head coach I can be of the Notre Dame football program. So, again, that’s where my mindset is. I don’t control the noise, but I know the noise that’s in my head and where my focus is.”
Freeman had made clear his intent to stay on with Notre Dame with a social media post in late December. But even as the rumors persist, Freeman says he doesn’t mind them. In fact, he welcomes the chatter.
“The only statement I put out was let’s run it back,” Freeman said. “I was intentional about that. I don’t need to come out with a statement every time one of these job openings happen. You know I always say the future is uncertain. That’s what I tell our players, it’s what I tell myself — it’s the reality of life. But everything I want and everything that I need personally can be achieved right here as the head coach of this program.
“So, I hope this is something we have to address every year, I really do, because it means we’re having a lot of success right here at Notre Dame. If this isn’t something we’d have to address, then there’s bigger issues within what we’re doing as a football program because as your program has success, these types of things are going to occur.”
Freeman is not planning to be an NFL head coach at this point. But he did pause when asked if he would like to have one of those 32 jobs at some point in his career.
“Do I want to be? I mean, I don’t really — I’ve never done it,” Freeman said. “I don’t know enough about it. Maybe sometime in the future, if it’s the right time and it’s what I think is right for me, then maybe I’ll pursue it. But I don’t love wasting time thinking about things that aren’t right in front of me.
“So, I don’t know what I’ll want in however much length of time from now. I don’t know. But I know right now that I am as convicted and motivated to being the best head coach of the Notre Dame football program as I can be.”
Freeman, 39, has compiled a 43-12 record in his four seasons with the Fighting Irish since taking over for Brian Kelly.
