Steelers Interested In Kirk Cousins?
Kirk Cousins will be released by the Falcons tomorrow, ending his two-year run in Atlanta. That could lead to interest from a few QB-needy teams, including the Steelers. 
[RELATED: Steelers To Acquire, Extend WR Michael Pittman Jr.]
Pittsburgh’s quarterback plan for 2026 hinges once again on Aaron Rodgers. The future Hall of Famer is expected to arrive at a decision on his playing future sooner than he did last year, but at this point it remains to be seen if his career will continue. A second Pittsburgh campaign would be welcomed, but the team obviously needs to have contingencies in place as well.
Bringing in a different veteran passer could serve that purpose. SportsBoom’s Jason La Canfora reports Cousins is “among the top options” the Steelers are considering as a fallback in the event Rodgers does not return. Pittsburgh also has backup Mason Rudolph in the fold, while La Canfora confirms the team remains high on the potential of 2025 sixth-rounder Will Howard.
At least one more season with an experienced passer would buy time for Howard to continue developing. It could also provide the Steelers with a bridge to the 2027 draft, which is expected to provide teams with more options at the QB spot than April’s edition of the event. Cousins has not worked with new Pittsburgh head coach Mike McCarthy before, but he would be expected to ensure the team still has a high floor in the event of a short-term deal being worked out. Cousins, 37, is younger than Rodgers and is further removed from the Achilles tear which ended his productive 2023 campaign.
That season proved to be Cousins’ last in Minnesota, although a Vikings reunion has been floated as a possibility. Nevertheless, recent reporting – including today’s La Canfora update – has pointed to Kyler Murray as Minnesota’s top QB target. That could leave the Steelers in line to make a Cousins push depending on how things play out with respect to Rodgers’ future.
QB Kyler Murray Could Be Patient In Free Agency
MARCH 10: Murray has yet to formally be released, nor have the Cardinals publicly confirmed they will do so at this point. That should change tomorrow, but it remains to be seen how quickly Murray will act upon becoming a free agent. In any event, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network confirms (video link) the Vikings remain the “favorite” with respect to Murray’s destination at this point.
MARCH 8: Once Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray landed on injured reserve this year having only played five games, two years after being limited to only eight games, Arizona decisionmakers were forced to broach the topic of reevaluating the future of the franchise. As the season progressed without Murray, all signs started pointing to his eventual departure from Arizona. The lack of robust trade interest in Murray led to the conclusion that the team would plan to release him to free agency. 
With his likely future set to begin later this week, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reports that Murray “could choose to be methodical in picking his destination” once free agency opens up. There are multiple free agent and draft options available to teams looking to fill out their roster at quarterback, and at some point, those team’s roster spots will be filled. There’s certainly strategy in working to lock down a spot to make sure one has a guaranteed job and contract, but there’s strategy, too, in being reactive to the moves that get made in order to ensure that one has the most information possible on a potential decision.
There will likely be teams — and there have already been a few for Murray — who will make their interest known loudly, publicly. Once the opportunity to communicate opens up, those teams could come hard and fast to display just how interested they are in a prospect. They may offer a contract big enough to convince a player to abandon his plans to look around and test the market. Then, once they’ve locked the player into a contract, the situation that was promised to that player may end up getting altered. The general idea of this would be similar to what happened with the Falcons and Kirk Cousins. Though, that wasn’t a necessarily quick courtship, Cousins signed under the impression that he was the only guy at quarterback moving forward, then the Falcons went and spent a first-round pick to draft Michael Penix.
Murray could, instead, be more patient and reactive. Once officially released from his contract in Arizona, Murray can start taking visits. We’ve known Minnesota to be an interested party as they seek competition for starting quarterback J.J. McCarthy. It was reported as recently as yesterday that the Jets were also showing interest, and Fowler mentions the Colts and Falcons as possibilities, as well, due to their current statuses with injured passers who may not be ready to start the season.
By being patient, Murray can take the time to truly consider team fit and city fit, instead of letting dollars and cents be the main factor of the decision-making process. The money is important, too, though, and seeing what other veteran free agents are signing for could help Murray leverage a better free agent deal for himself instead of being the one who acts first and sets the market. He also has a bit of freedom in what kind of contracts he can ask for, given he’s still due to receive a good amount from guarantees in his contract from Arizona. He’ll be able to see which teams really want him and which just really need a body to fill the room. Perhaps he’ll be open to joining the Vikings, Colts, or Falcons, who have talented rosters but eventual competition at quarterback, or perhaps he’ll desire a job with a team that needs more work as long as it provides him a secure starting opportunity.
Free agency could go in a lot of different directions once it really opens up this week. It will be interesting to see how quickly Kyler moves in his first bout with free agency. He may subject himself to a bidding war and go with the highest bidder early, or he may be slower and more deliberate in his approach to finding a new home.
Packers To Release CB Nate Hobbs
Nate Hobbs‘ Green Bay future was a question mark leading up to free agency. The veteran corner will indeed be on the move after just one year with the team. 
Hobbs is being cut, Tom Pelissero of NFL Network reports. This will be designated a post-June 1 release, ESPN’s Rob Demovsky adds. Green Bay will create $8.84MM in cap savings as a result while generating a dead money charge of $4MM.
No restructure was worked out in this case as the new league year approached, leading to questions about a separation. Hobbs inked a four-year, $48MM contract in free agency last spring upon playing out his rookie contract with the Raiders. As usual, the Packers did not include any full guarantees beyond the first season of the deal, with Hobbs being owed a $6.25MM roster bonus on Friday. In advance of that date, Green Bay has elected to move on.
Hobbs joined the Packers with injury concerns, and that proved to be a problem in 2025. A meniscus issue in training camp marked the first of three knee ailments the former fifth-rounder dealt with in Green Bay. The last was a season-ending MCL injury. Hobbs had found himself out of the starting lineup by the time that took place, pointing further to a cut in this case.
The Illinois product struggled in coverage with the Packers, surrendering a passer rating of 111.1 as the nearest defender in 2025. Between that and his injuries, Hobbs will be hard-pressed to secure a long-term contract like he did last spring. Still, at the age of 26, he could be seen as a bounce-back candidate by teams seeking depth in the secondary.
The cornerback position was a sore spot for Green Bay down the stretch, as illustrated by the Trevon Diggs experiment to close out the campaign. He is no longer in the fold, and Hobbs will also be on the move in free agency. Early on Tuesday, though, the Packers lined up a CB addition by agreeing to terms with Benjamin St-Juste.
Vikings To Re-Sign LS Andrew DePaola
The Vikings are re-signing three-time Pro Bowl long snapper Andrew DePaola, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN. The sides have agreed to a one-year, fully guaranteed deal worth $1.725MM.
DePaola, who went undrafted out of Rutgers in 2012, worked as a bartender before catching on with the Buccaneers two years later. He then went on to log four straight 16-game seasons – three with the Bucs and another with the Bears. The Raiders gave DePaola a four-year deal in 2018, but a torn ACL limited him to one game that season.
After the Raiders released DePaola in the ensuing offseason, he was unable to secure a roster spot anywhere in 2019. Since resurfacing on the Vikings’ practice squad in 2020, DePaola has turned into a fixture on their special teams unit. He has put up four 17-game seasons, including last year, and earned a total of four All-Pro selections. The soon-to-be 39-year-old is now in line to remain in Minnesota for at least another season.
With DePaola’s help, kicker Will Reichard nailed 33 of 35 field goals (94.3%) and all 31 extra points en route to first-team All-Pro honors in 2025. DePaola will continue snapping to Reichard in 2026, but he will work with a different punter after Ryan Wright left for New Orleans on Monday.
TE Hayden Hurst Retires
Hayden Hurst will not be among the players lining up free agent deals this week. The veteran tight end will instead begin his post-playing career. 
Hurst announced his retirement on Tuesday. He did not see any game time in 2025, and instead of spending another offseason in search of a new contract the former first-rounder will hang up his cleats. Today’s news brings an end to a seven-year NFL career.
“It is a blessing how far sports have taken me in this life,” Hurst’s retirement message reads in part. “I was determined to make football work after baseball failed me, and I never let anyone tell me I couldn’t do anything… I fought daily to be the best version of myself that I could, and I hope it showed on the field with the passion 1 played with every snap and every game. To all the fans in the cities I played in, thank you for supporting me along the way, and I hope I represented your hometown well.”
Hurst certainly had an unorthodox path to professional football. A 2012 draftee of the Pittsburgh Pirates, he wound up making only one start as pitcher in the minor leagues. With his baseball journey coming to an abrupt end, Hurst turned his attention to football and enjoyed a productive three-year tenure at South Carolina.
Hurst was selected with the 25th overall pick in the 2018 NFL draft, and he spent his first two seasons with the Ravens. Baltimore added Mark Andrews in the same draft, however, and the team committed to him as its top option at the tight end position. Hurst was traded to the Falcons, although he also dealt with the problem of being buried on the depth chart behind Kyle Pitts in Atlanta for one year.
During his first trip to free agency, Hurst signed a one-year deal with the Bengals. He was able to deliver strong production as a secondary option in Cincinnati’s passing game, something which resulted in a three-year Panthers contract. Hurst was limited to nine games in 2023, however, and his Carolina tenure was cut short after only one season. He spent 2024 with the Chargers, playing sparingly.
Hurst’s retirement announcement noted this news is probably one year too late, but in any case he can now turn his attention elsewhere at the age of 32. In all, Hurst played 93 combined regular and postseason games and amassed roughly $28.5MM in career earnings.
Giants To Sign CB Greg Newsome
The Giants’ roster overhaul is ongoing, and it will continue into Tuesday. Shortly after learning Cor’Dale Flott will depart, a cornerback addition has been arranged.
New York is expected to sign Greg Newsome, NFL insider Jordan Schultz reports. This will be a one-year deal, he adds. Newsome is headed to the NFC after playing out his rookie contract in Cleveland and Jacksonville. He will collect up to $8MM in 2026 with $3MM in guarantees, per Connor Hughes of SNY.
The Browns spent the 26th pick in the 2021 draft on Newsome, a former Northwestern standout. Over his first three seasons, Newsome started in 39 of 41 games and combined for 29 pass deflections. Newsome’s only two interceptions during that span came in 2023, after which the Browns exercised his $13.37MM fifth-year option for 2025.
Newsome added another pick in 2024, but the Browns demoted him to a slot role in sub-packages during a 13-game, three-start season. With Martin Emerson taking his starting job on the outside, Newsome recorded a career-low 53.04% snap share. Pro Football Focus ranked Newsome’s play an unsightly 106th out of 117 qualifying corners.
While trade rumors swirled over Newsome at last year’s draft and in the summer, he stayed put to begin the season. The Browns reinstalled Newsome as a starter for their first five games, but they finally pulled the trigger on a trade in early October. The team shipped Newsome to the Jaguars in a corner-for-corner swap that delivered Tyson Campbell to Cleveland.
Newsome started in 11 of 12 games during his short stay in Jacksonville, which let him walk and re-signed Montaric Brown instead. Between the Browns and Jags, Newsome totaled 52 tackles, nine pass deflections and an INT in the first 17-game season of his career. PFF had a more favorable outlook on Newsome’s performance in 2025, though he still ranked a subpar 89th among 112 CBs.
The Giants thought they had a deal with Flott before Titans head coach Robert Saleh talked him into moving to Tennessee on Monday. A day later, the Giants have the 25-year-old Newsome in the fold as a potential starter opposite Paulson Adebo.
Connor Byrne contributed to this post.
Bills, K Tyler Bass Agree To Restructure
Tyler Bass will remain in place with the Bills for 2026. Coming off a missed season, though, his pact has been adjusted.
Team and player worked out a revision on Tuesday, per Tom Pelissero of NFL Network. Bass has accepted a $1.5MM pay cut for the coming campaign in exchange for a $1MM guarantee in 2026. The veteran kicker can earn another $1MM via incentives, and his cap figure now sits at $3.05MM.
A 2020 sixth-rounder out of Georgia Southern, Bass missed just one game over his first five seasons. The career-long Bill converted a solid 84.5% of field goals (131 of 155) and 96% of extra points (264 of 274) during that span.
Bass was in line to remain the Bills’ kicker last year, but he wound up missing the entire season as a result of a hip/groin issue. The Bills placed Bass on injured reserve leading up to Week 1 and brought in 41-year-old Matt Prater as a last-minute replacement. Prater went on to hit 18 of 20 FGs (90%) and 46 of 49 PATs (94%) over 15 regular-season games. The two-time Pro Bowler was perfect during the postseason, in which he made five field goals and six extra points in two games.
Bass underwent surgery in late November, but it appears Buffalo is confident he will return to full strength next season. The only other kicker in the building is the untested Maddux Trujillo, who is on a reserve/futures deal. Meanwhile, if Prater wants to play a 20th season in 2026, he will likely have to look elsewhere in free agency.
Connor Byrne contributed to this post.
Packers To Sign CB Benjamin St-Juste
Cornerback was known to be an area of need for the Packers entering the 2026 offseason. An addition has been lined up early in free agency.
Green Bay has agreed to a deal with Benjamin St-Juste, Ian Rapoport of NFL Network reports. This will be a two-year, $10MM deal, he adds. Incentives could push the maximum value to $10.5MM.
The 28-year-old St-Juste will step in for Nate Hobbs, whom the Packers released Tuesday. St-Juste spent last season as a member of the Chargers, with whom he performed effectively as a rotational boundary corner and a regular special teamer. While logging a 34.97% defensive snap share over 16 games, St-Juste totaled 37 tackles, seven pass deflections and an interceptions.
Despite St-Juste’s limited role, Pro Football Focus ranked the 6-foot-3, 200-pounder 11th out of 112 qualifying corners in 2025. As PFF’s Mason Cameron notes, St-Juste led the league with a 90.1 grade in zone coverage.
Before his short but impressive stint with the Chargers, St-Juste was a Commander for the first four years of his career. Washington used a 2021 third-rounder (74th overall) on the the Montreal native and former Minnesota Golden Gopher. St-Juste lined up on the boundary and in the slot in Washington, where he started in 45 of 54 games.
In 2023, his best year as a Commander, St-Juste racked up 17 pass deflections in 16 starts. However, PFF ranked St-Juste as a bottom-five corner in 2024. A couple of months after the Commanders benched him late in the season, they allowed St-Juste to walk in free agency. He enjoyed a resurgence in Los Angeles under defensive coordinator Jesse Minter. Green Bay is expecting that to transfer to new D-coordinator Jonathan Gannon‘s system.
Connor Byrne contributed to this post.
Dolphins To Sign QB Malik Willis
11:13pm: Willis will see both his 2026 and 2027 base salaries fully guaranteed, SI.com’s Albert Breer reports. A $2MM roster bonus is due in March 2028. Year 3 will have a nonguaranteed salary. Still, the Dolphins will be paying the Tagovailoa dead money and Willis’ fully guaranteed compensation over the next two years.
11:51am: Despite taking on a record-setting dead money sum from the impending Tua Tagovailoa release, the Dolphins will be the team that signs off on Malik Willis‘ second contract.
Willis is reuniting with Jon-Eric Sullivan and Jeff Hafley in Miami, according to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport, who reports the sides agreed on a three-year deal worth $67.5MM. Willis will receive $45MM guaranteed at signing.
While not a $30MM-per-year contract like recent rumors indicated, Willis will still cash in via that nice guarantee number. This figures to provide at least a two-year runway for Willis in Miami, which will spread the Tagovailoa dead cap hit through 2027. Still, a $99.2MM dead cap hit over that span and a $20MM-plus QB salary will be an interesting route to take. A bit of a smokescreen effort may have taken place on the Dolphins’ part, as Sullivan pointed to the team’s cap situation making it difficult to win the Willis sweepstakes.
In terms of AAV, Willis is set to hover in unoccupied territory. This number comes in south of the Baker Mayfield–Sam Darnold tier but well north of backup money. The full guarantee likely became a strong sweetener for the Jordan Love backup, who drew interest from a few teams — the Browns, Cardinals and Steelers among them. Presenting a strange free agency profile with six career starts, Willis ranked seventh on PFR’s top 50 free agents list. He will do much better than Justin Fields in terms of fully guaranteed money; the Jets gave their 2025 starter at $30MM guarantee.
Fields’ $20MM-per-year deal is the only QB contract in this neighborhood, but the Jets are about to terminate that deal. Soon, Willis’ $22.5MM AAV number will be the only QB pact in between Cam Ward‘s rookie salary ($12.21MM) and Mayfield’s current $33.3MM AAV.
Mike Vrabel deemed Willis unplayable late in the 2022 season, after the third-round rookie looked erratic in his short time at the helm. The Titans drafted Will Levis in 2023 and parked Willis behind he and Ryan Tannehill. A new Titans coaching staff signed off on trading the Jon Robinson-era draftee to the Packers for a low-end return in summer 2024. Willis became needed immediately, with Love going down with an injury in Week 1 of that season.
Matt LaFleur customized the offense to suit Willis’ skillset, and the effort created a market. Willis ran his start count from three to six in Green Bay, putting up eye-popping (and unsustainable) numbers. He compiled a 6:0 TD-INT ratio in Green Bay, having completed 70 of 89 attempts at a college-y 12.1 yards per pass. Willis also averaged 6.2 yards per rush (29/261/3). Willis will now work under Bobby Slowik, who will run a LaFleur-type scheme. Both are Kyle Shanahan disciples.
With Willis committing to Miami within an hour of the legal tampering period’s outset, other QB-needy teams will not need to authorize higher-end guarantees — most likely, at least. But some of those teams will be left scrambling, as a host of needs exist on this year’s market. That helped inflate Willis’ value despite the six career starts.
The Dolphins gave Tagovailoa six years but erred by giving him a $53.1MM-per-year extension in 2024. The Mike McDaniel passer showed tremendous promise as an accurate thrower, but concussions gave way to inconsistency for the left-hander. Miami benched Tagovailoa late in McDaniel’s tenure and was never seriously linked to retaining him — despite what would have been a easier route contractually — this offseason. Sullivan will take a risk with Willis due to his limited sample size, but he and Hafley certainly have plenty of information on him from the sides’ two-year overlap in Wisconsin.
Raiders, Tyler Linderbaum Reach Record-Setting C Contract
11:12pm: As expected, it is a player-friendly deal. Linderbaum will receive a $20MM signing bonus to go with fully guaranteed salaries in 2026 and ’27, according to ESPN.com’s Dan Graziano. This could become a fully guaranteed deal by March 2027. Linderbaum’s $21MM 2028 base salary shifts from an injury guarantee to a full guarantee on Day 3 of the 2027 league year. Barring a Christian Wilkins-like exit ramp forming before that point, this is a fully guaranteed $81MM contract.
12:49pm: The top center sweepstakes in free agency history is over. Linked to several teams, Tyler Linderbaum is choosing Las Vegas. The Raiders are adding the Pro Bowl blocker, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports.
It will take a three-year, $81MM deal to bring Linderbaum to the desert. The Commanders, Titans and Giants joined the Ravens in being in on PFR’s No. 1-ranked free agent. Rather than a four-year commitment, Linderbaum agreed to a shorter-term deal that includes $60MM guaranteed.
In terms of market obliteration, this is among the greatest achievements in NFL history. Linderbaum hitting free agency allowed him to land a deal $9MM north (AAV-wise) of any center pact before him. This contract also checks in clear of every guard salary, with Linderbaum’s $27MM-per-year number topping Tyler Smith‘s $24MM AAV. This is a staggering commitment, but the Raiders led the NFL in cap space. After sending Maxx Crosby to Baltimore, Las Vegas will pilfer the Ravens’ O-line centerpiece.
Patrick Mahomes held the quarterback AAV record for less than two years, but it is safe to expect Linderbaum’s grip on the center market to last longer. It took Mahomes giving the Chiefs 10 years of control for them to hike the QB market by $10MM per year in 2020. Linderbaum managed to smash Creed Humphrey‘s center-record number ($18MM) without any such concessions. The power of the open market persists, as the salary cap has now climbed to $301.2MM.
Coming into today, the NFL only had two center pacts — after Drew Dalman‘s retirement — north of $13MM per year. Those went to Humphrey and the Eagles’ Cam Jurgens ($17MM). Linderbaum has signed an outlier accord and will join a Raiders O-line that is otherwise light on expenses beyond Kolton Miller‘s 2025 extension. Miller and Linderbaum will lead the way in protecting expected No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza, whose rookie contract will align with Linderbaum’s three-year deal.
ESPN’s pass block win rate metric ranked Linderbaum fourth among all interior O-lineman last season; he ranked 13th in 2024. Pro Football Focus, conversely, has graded Linderbaum as a far superior run blocker. The agile lineman has certainly made a considerable difference for a run-reliant offense, and the Raiders are certainly paying him to help unleash Ashton Jeanty, who spent much of his rookie season bottled up behind an O-line PFF ranked 32nd.
The Raiders used a combination of Alex Cappa and Jordan Meredith at center last season. It should be expected Las Vegas, which entered today needing to spend to reach the three-year salary-floor mandate, will be in the guard market as well. Right tackle also served as a need for the struggling franchise, but this market’s biggest O-line fish — one of the biggest O-line prizes in free agency’s 34 years — will be teaming with (almost certainly) last year’s Heisman winner.
As for the Ravens, they will need a fallback option. The 2022 first-round pick had helped an O-line that lost guard starters in free agency along with RT Morgan Moses. While Baltimore has Ronnie Stanley and Roger Rosengarten in place at tackle, the team has needs at guard (where Daniel Faalele is unsigned) and now a massive void at center. The Ravens had aimed to pay Linderbaum, but they did not pick up his fifth-year option in 2025. The CBA groups all O-linemen together, making centers difficult to tag; no center has been tagged since Ryan Kalil (Panthers) 15 years ago.
Those factors helped lead Linderbaum out of Maryland, completing one of the more memorable chapters in O-line free agency history.