The Atlanta Falcons are expected to release veteran quarterback Kirk Cousins before the start of the new league year in March and let him decide his future, ESPN's Adam Schefter reported Saturday. 

The Falcons cutting Cousins would make him a free agent again, and that would allow him to choose where he wants to spend the 2026 campaign — if he wants to play, that is. Cousins, after all, will turn 38 before the start of next season and is 14 seasons into his four-time Pro Bowl career.

Cousins, who was in Washington for his first six seasons, signed a four-year, $180 million deal with the Falcons in 2024 after playing for six additional seasons for the Minnesota Vikings from 2018-23.

Saturday's news follows last month's ESPN report that Atlanta restructured Cousins' contract, a move that reportedly set the Falcons up for more cap flexibility and put Cousins in position for a release that would give him more career options.

Modifications were made to Cousins' 2026 base salary, dropping it from $35 million to $2.1 million. That $32.9 million difference was then added to his 2027 base salary, per Schefter.

If Cousins is on the Falcons' roster at the start of the league year in mid-March, his 2027 base salary — which is now reportedly $67.9 million — will become guaranteed.

But cutting him via a post-June 1 release would split the dead money on his contract over the 2026 and 2027 league years, according to ESPN.  

The year he signed with the Falcons, he was coming back from an Achilles injury that cost him the back half of the 2023 season.

Although he worked his way back to the field in time for Week 1, he picked up shoulder and elbow injuries, struggled and was benched 14 games into his first go-around with the Falcons. Rookie Michael Penix Jr., whom Atlanta surprisingly took No. 8 overall in the 2024 draft, replaced Cousins and had a three-game runway to the 2025 campaign.

Then-head coach Raheem Morris stuck with Penix as QB1 this past offseason. Although trade rumors swirled, Cousins wasn't dealt before or during this season.

He wound up starting eight more games for the Falcons, though, including seven straight to end the season after Penix underwent surgery to repair a torn ACL.

Cousins led Atlanta to wins in its each of its final four games, posting a 7:2 touchdown-to-interception ratio in that span.

He would like to play next season, per Schefter, but he's expected to have television opportunities. Cousins appeared on CBS' pregame show during the playoffs.

As for Penix, the Falcons haven't made a commitment at the quarterback position since firing Morris and hiring a new leadership team that features president of football Matt Ryan, general manager Ian Cunningham and head coach Kevin Stefanski.

Two days after Pat Spencer splashed a career-high six 3-pointers and scored a personal-best 20 points in a 101-97 comeback win on the road against the the Phoenix Suns, the Golden State Warriors converted the 29-year-old, two-way guard to a standard NBA contract for the second straight season.

The team made Spencer's promotion official on Saturday, hours before a game in Los Angeles against the Lakers that could call for the former lacrosse star's services, as Stephen Curry continues to recover from a right knee injury that forced him to exit a Jan. 30 loss to the Detroit Pistons in the third quarter.

Golden State had two roster spots open after dealing Jonathan Kuminga, Buddy Hield and Trayce Jackson-Davis and receiving Kristaps Porziņģis before the trade deadline. 

While the Warriors converted Spencer to a standard contract last season as well, that was in March in the lead-up to the playoffs. This time, he's a legitimate backup point guard and scoring option off the bench, and his contributions are finally making more headlines than his unconventional route to the league.

Spencer is posting 5.8 points, 2.9 assists and 2.2 rebounds in 14.4 minutes per game across 36 outings this season. In his five starts, he's averaged 14.6 points, 5.4 assists, 5 rebounds and 1.4 steals while shooting 54.2% from deep.

He's been much more willing to pull from long range, and, at times, he's taken over games. Perhaps most notably, during a Dec. 4 thriller against the Philadelphia 76ers, he announced himself as "that motherf***er" and then two days later started and scored 19 points in a road win over the Cleveland Cavaliers that had head coach Steve Kerr agreeing with that declaration.

Famously, Spencer established himself as a college lacrosse great at Loyola (Maryland), where he won the Tewaaraton, the sport's most prestigious award, before using the last bit of his eligibility to play basketball at Northwestern. He went undrafted in 2020 and then played overseas and in the G League prior to making his NBA debut with the Warriors in 2024.

Since, he's persistently carved out a small role for himself within the organization. It's never been bigger than it has been this season, though.

Now he has the contract to show for it, and the injury-riddled Warriors need his help.

"America's Team" is going international for the first time in 12 years.

The Dallas Cowboys will be one of the participating teams in the NFL's first game in Rio de Janeiro next season.

The date and time of the game, as well as the Cowboys' opponent, will be announced at a later date, per a league release on Thursday night. It will be played in the Maracanã Stadium, which famously hosted the 2014 FIFA World Cup final.

The NFL has already played two games in Brazil, but those took place in São Paulo at Corinthians Arena, where the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Green Bay Packers on Sept. 6, 2024, and the Los Angeles Chargers bested the Kansas City Chiefs on Sept. 5, 2025. Both were season openers, and both were decided by one score.

The Cowboys' game in Rio will be their first international date since 2014, when they faced off against the Jacksonville Jaguars in London.

It will also mark the franchise's 11th time playing an international game, however, nine of those matchups have arrived during the preseason, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, which listed those 10 prior games as such:

• 2014 vs. Jacksonville Jaguars | London

• 2001 vs. Oakland Raiders | Mexico City (preseason)

• 2000 vs. Atlanta Falcons | Tokyo (preseason)

• 1998 vs. New England Patriots | Mexico City (preseason)

• 1996 vs. Kansas City Chiefs | Monterrey (preseason)

• 1995 vs. Buffalo Bills | Toronto (preseason) 

• 1994 vs. Houston Oilers | Mexico City (preseason)

• 1993 vs. Detroit Lions | London (preseason)

• 1992 vs. Houston Oilers | Tokyo (preseason)

• 1986 vs. Chicago Bears | London (preseason)

The NFL also announced on Thursday that the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams will play in the league's first game in Melbourne, Australia, next season.

In total, there will be an NFL-record nine international games during the 2026 campaign.