There must be several people circling Hoda Kotb‘s job on The Today Show ahead of her exit in 2025. But there’s only one person in particular who has recently hosted both The Today Show and Today With Hoda & Jenna, leading us to believe she may actually be trying out for the role: Saturday TODAY anchor Laura Jarrett.

Jarrett filled in this morning for Jenna Bush Hager, who was sadly missing from the Monday broadcast. The legal correspondent always matches Kotb’s peppy energy as a regular stand-in for Bush Hager whenever she fills in on Today With Hoda & Jenna.

Kotb told viewers that her co-host had finally caught the bug that was spreading in her home. “Jenna is a little under the weather. All of her kids got sick, she was describing some of it last week. She finally got it,” Kotb explained. “You cannot escape the germs, they’re in the house. So, she’s taking a little break.”

The Today anchors did not mention Kotb’s imminent retirement. But one recent report speculates that Jarrett may be in the running for one of Kotb’s soon-to-be empty roles when she retires in 2025.

A network insider told Us Weekly that Jarrett is “the big contender who everyone at the network is talking about.”

“She has a really strong chance. She’s the anchor of Weekend Today; she is a lawyer like Savannah. She’s a darling at the Today Show who has risen up very quickly,” they said.

The NBC insider also noted that the network could go another route. “The other option is they could move around anchors. They could put Craig [Melvin] with Savannah [Guthrie], or they could put Sheinelle [Jones] with Savannah,” they said.

And this isn’t the first time Jarrett has recently filled in for one of the weekday Today anchors.

Jarrett and Willie Geist recently hosted the second hour of Today on Oct. 18 amid Kotb and Guthrie’s absences, which may have been a trial to see which anchor could make a good fit to replace Kotb. Jarrett also filled in for Craig Melvin during the third hour of Today that morning.

Fans at home appeared to be impressed by Jarrett and Geist’s hosting skills.

“Willie and Laura are the Dream Team I wish we had every day. So much better than Savannah and Hoda,” one viewer wrote on X. “Real news people. Smart and so much easier to watch.”

Viewers at home were also praising Jarrett’s hosting skills after she filled in for Bush Hager Monday morning.

“This pairing today is perfection,” another viewer wrote on X of Kotb and Jarrett. “Laura Jarrett, legal scholar and all around brilliant badass woman is the perfect fit. I know she’s qualified for eminently more illustrious assignments, but she’s the one.”

Jarrett has been with NBC News since 2023. She joined as a senior legal correspondent before soon being named co-anchor on Saturday TODAY, which she co-hosts with Peter Alexander.

Kotb did not share when Bush Hager will be back on the show, but there is always a chance we will get to see Jarrett again during the week.

Today with Hoda & Jenna airs on weekdays at 10/9c on NBC.