Most TV-Ready Quarterbacks Will Still Have NFL Careers in 2026

There is an interesting dynamic brewing in the NFL media. While multiple TV slots have been vacated by former quarterbacks, the current crop of signal-callers with likely TV futures are still playing. 

Matt Ryan recently left CBS Sports for a prominent role in the Falcons’ front office, and Michael Vick departed his role on Fox NFL Kickoff before last season to coach Norfolk State. Fox did not name a permanent replacement, and filled some of Vick’s time by sliding in a rotating cast from its top-rated Fox NFL Sunday pregame show, which Kickoff precedes. 

Factor in NBC’s apparent shakeup of Football Night In America and there are plenty of spots to fill across the NFL TV landscape this offseason. These are some of the quarterbacks who are intriguing from a media perspective:

Matthew Stafford

Stafford is currently seen as the gold standard of quarterbacks with TV futures who are nearing the end of the road but aren’t quite there yet. He is a Super Bowl-winning quarterback with Los Angeles cachet. In 2024, Stafford appeared on Fox’s pregame show during the Rams’s bye week. Nevertheless, the 38-year-old is still playing at the top of his game; he just won the league’s MVP award this past season. At this point, there’s no reason to think he won’t be running it back with the Rams in 2026.

Kirk Cousins

Cousins, 37, remains a free agent after his release from the Falcons. He told Jon Gruden recently that he feels “rejuvenated” and is looking for an opportunity to start next season. He worked as a guest analyst for CBS during this past postseason. The Michigan State product has earned over $300 million in his playing career, so it will be interesting to gauge if he ultimately finds a TV deal that he feels is worth his while.

Jameis Winston

Winston has been all over the place in media, doing various roles for Fox Sports over the past couple of years and even appearing on Netflix’s MLB Opening Night telecast on Wednesday. Nevertheless, he is only 32 years old and remains under contract with the Giants through the 2026 season.

Aaron Rodgers

Around this time last year, Front Office Sports’s Michael McCarthy reported that the TV landscape had surprisingly little interest in Rodgers following a disappointing 5-12 season with the Jets. However, sources say that Rodgers’s stock has rebounded after leading the Steelers to the playoffs in 2025 and that there would be some interested media parties should he go back on what he said recently about wanting to “disappear” in his post-playing career.

Rodgers does not fit into a traditional NFL TV box and one could see him being bored in a standard studio setting. However, he would be excellent hosting a show similar to Kobe Bryant’s Detail by delving into film study, or there is a world where he could be a Joe Rogan-style host and do three-hour digital shows about whatever interests him at the time. The 42-year-old Rodgers has not made a decision about playing next season, but new Steelers head coach Mike McCarthy (no relation to the above) has expressed interest in a reunion.

Joe Flacco

Flacco, 41, just signed a one-year deal with the Bengals worth up to $9 million, but he is someone who would be a solid analyst for TV networks after he hangs up his cleats. He won a Super Bowl with the Ravens and has thrown for nearly 50,000 yards in the regular season in his career. He also has a fun personality and wit.

Russell Wilson

Wilson is the quarterback on this list who would be most likely to be available for a media job right now. He has been on four teams in the last five seasons and is not expected to draw significant money in a backup role. Nevertheless, at the end of this past season, he said he couldn’t envision a scenario where he doesn’t play in 2026.

Wilson worked with CBS during the Giants’s bye week last season. He is a Super Bowl champion and there is some crossover appeal with entertainment audiences as he’s married to the star singer Ciara. Still, he would have had a much more promising potential media career several years ago, as his performance on the field has since tailed off.