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 neighborhood — would have most well-liked to know the place Aaron Rodgers will probably be taking part in 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 feel if the league knew (Rodgers’ crew), we most likely would’ve scheduled that sport for a nationwide tv window,” North informed CBS after Wednesday’s full schedule launch.
“So at worst, it’s Justin Fields in opposition to his previous crew. At greatest, it’s Aaron Rogers going up in opposition to one in all his previous groups. Take a look at what we did with Aaron Rogers’ first sport the final two years (each Monday evening video games). If we knew one thing, I feel you’d’ve seen it mirrored within the schedule. That being stated, nonetheless a superb sport.”
It appears Rodgers’ greatest path to a beginning job in 2025 is both with the Steelers or the Saints, and the latter appears extra more likely to make a bid for the potential Arch Manning derby than make a Rodgers push.
The NFL has proven it should characteristic Rodgers in loads of prime-time slots, as seen the final two years when the Jets opened in opposition to the Payments and 49ers, respectively, on “Monday Evening Soccer.”
A Week 1 conflict that includes Rodgers in opposition to 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 absolutely can 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 dealing with the Steelers, however that’s a sport higher located for a 1 p.m. window than must-see tv.
The Steelers are three-point highway 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 Evening Soccer.”
That might signify Rodgers’ first sport in opposition to the crew that drafted him and with whom he received his lone Tremendous Bowl ring earlier than they too moved on.
The Steelers’ schedule additionally options an Eire sport in opposition to the Vikings, a “Thursday Evening Soccer” divisional highway contest with the Bengals, a “Sunday Evening Soccer” conflict on the Chargers and a “Monday Evening Soccer” dwelling date with the Dolphins.
