Notre Dame fans knew that there was an NFL team or two that was interested in hiring Marcus Freeman. However, as it turns out, there were more teams looking at the Fighting Irish head coach than previously realized.
Now that he's officially shut down any talk of him leaving South Bend, a list of teams that were interested in taking a shot at Freeman has been released. The New York Giants, unsurprisingly, were tops on that list. So were the Tennessee Titans. Both of those teams were known to be kicking the tires.
Diana Russini of The Athletic wrote on Saturday about some teams that no one realized were looking at the Notre Dame quarterback. She claims the Cleveland Browns had internal discussions about pursuing Freeman. So did the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Notre Dame coach was pursued by more NFL teams than first known
The obviously interesting part about those last two is that neither has a coaching opening. Granted, there's been lots of talk that Cleveland head coach Kevin Stefanski is in trouble. Mike Tomlin is also considered to be on the hot seat, even though the Steelers are going to win the AFC North.
All of this is moot at this point, as Marcus Freeman made it clear he's done even talking about any jobs other than Notre Dame. The report leaves egg on the faces of those teams that at least dipped their toes in the water and tried to see if he was interested.
The Titans and Giants are well known to be looking for new coaches. Stefanski doesn't have much leverage. Tomlin, though, has never had a losing season, and if he does get fired or decides to leave, he won't be without a job for too long. And if the Steelers start these dominoes falling, their fans will have the Notre Dame coach to thank, or curse.