Inside NFL’s Secret: How Aaron Rodgers’ Week 1 Return Could Have Flipped the Entire National TV Lineup

When the Steelers’ 2025 schedule dropped, Art Rooney II didn’t exactly pop open the champagne — late-season night games have him less than thrilled. Yet, peek at their early calendar, and you’ll find four out of five kickoff times are a comfortable 1 p.m. ET Sunday slot. That’s no coincidence; there’s a swirling cloud of “what ifs” around Aaron Rodgers and whether he actually dons black and gold. After all, the Jets leaned hard into prime-time Monday night openers the past two seasons, spotlighting Rodgers like a prized jewel — if only he could shake off an Achilles injury and a rocky start to 2024. With Rodgers apparently headed to Pittsburgh, you’d think the NFL could’ve flipped the script for the Steelers’ opener against the Jets. But Mike North, the league’s broadcast scheduling guru, insists they didn’t factor in that possibility when setting the schedule. If they had, it might’ve been a primetime showdown worth national eyeballs, not the 1 p.m. crowd along with seven other games. Still, whether it’s Justin Fields squaring off against his former squad or Rodgers making his Steelers debut, it’s a clash worth watching. And with Steelers slated for a handful of night games and some late afternoon windows — a stark contrast to what the Jets had with Rodgers — it just might be a quarterback-friendly showcase… at least until the flex scheduling circus kicks in. LEARN MORE

Rodgers is expected to sign with the Steelers, but NFL vice president of broadcast planning and scheduling Mike North told Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports that the league did not take that hypothetical into consideration when they decided to schedule a Steelers visit to the Jets in the season opener. If they had, North suggested that the Steelers would be featured more prominently than they will be in the 1 p.m. ET window. The Steelers are scheduled for four night games and two games in the 4:25 p.m. ET window, which is a big difference from what the Jets schedule looked like with Rodgers. That may be appealing to the quarterback, although flex scheduling could make things look a lot different when all is said and done. That’s related to the ongoing uncertainty about whether quarterback Aaron Rodgers will be in a Steelers uniform. The Jets were scheduled for Monday night openers the last two seasons and had a slew of other standalone and short-week games as the league tried to spotlight the four-time MVP. An Achilles injury in 2023 and poor play in 2024 meant that didn’t work out for the league, the Jets or their broadcast partners. “You’ll see Pittsburgh at the Jets are on CBS at 1 o’clock in the afternoon in Week 1 along with seven other NFL games all at the same time,” North said. “I think if the league knew, we probably would’ve scheduled that game for a national television window. So at worst, it’s Justin Fields against his old team. At best, it’s Aaron Rogers going up against one of his old teams. Look at what we did with Aaron Rogers’ first game the last two years. If we knew something, I think you would’ve seen it reflected in the schedule. That being said, still a good game.”Steelers owner Art Rooney II lamented the team’s late-season night games after the schedule was released on Wednesday night, but the team will be playing at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday in four of their first five games of the year.