How the NFL navigated Aaron Rodgers uncertainty with schedule launch
The NFL adopted the tea leaves to arrange a possible home-run Week 1 matchup.
Whereas the league’s schedule makers — very like the remainder of the NFL group — would have most well-liked to know the place Aaron Rodgers will likely be enjoying in 2025, NFL vice chairman of planning and scheduling Mike North indicated the league accounted for him presumably touchdown in Pittsburgh to face his former Jets crew to open the season.
“I believe if the league knew (Rodgers’ crew), we in all probability would’ve scheduled that recreation for a nationwide tv window,” North advised CBS after Wednesday’s full schedule launch.
“So at worst, it’s Justin Fields towards his outdated crew. At greatest, it’s Aaron Rogers going up towards one in all his outdated groups. Take a look at what we did with Aaron Rogers’ first recreation the final two years (each Monday night time video games). If we knew one thing, I believe you’ll’ve seen it mirrored within the schedule. That being stated, nonetheless an excellent recreation.”
It appears Rodgers’ greatest path to a beginning job in 2025 is both with the Steelers or the Saints, and the latter appears extra prone to make a bid for the potential Arch Manning derby than make a Rodgers push.
The NFL has proven it can characteristic Rodgers in loads of prime-time slots, as seen the final two years when the Jets opened towards the Payments and 49ers, respectively, on “Monday Night time Soccer.”
A Week 1 conflict that includes Rodgers towards a Jets crew that he believes didn’t deal with his exit gracefully is a storyline that writes itself.
Rodgers blasted new coach Aaron Glenn and the franchise for having him fly to New Jersey for an exit assembly that he felt may have been dealt with over the cellphone and lacked “ample respect.”
Many have stated all through the years that Rodgers is at his greatest with a chip on his shoulder — though that didn’t ring true in New York — and he certainly could be fired as much as attempt to dissect Glenn’s protection.
Ought to Rodgers not be a part of Pittsburgh, there’s nonetheless the angle, as North talked about, of Fields going through the Steelers, however that’s a recreation higher located for a 1 p.m. window than must-see tv.
The Steelers are three-point street favorites for the sport, even with the uninspiring quarterback room of Mason Rudolph and 2025 rookie Will Howard.
One different intriguing angle of the Rodgers-Steelers situation is that Pittsburgh hosts Rodgers’ different ex-team, the Packers, in Week 8 for “Sunday Night time Soccer.”
That might signify Rodgers’ first recreation towards the crew that drafted him and with whom he gained his lone Tremendous Bowl ring earlier than they too moved on.
The Steelers’ schedule additionally options an Eire recreation towards the Vikings, a “Thursday Night time Soccer” divisional street contest with the Bengals, a “Sunday Night time Soccer” conflict on the Chargers and a “Monday Night time Soccer” residence date with the Dolphins.
