National Football League officials say their choice to schedule Kansas City for high-profile evening games during the season’s opening weeks had nothing to do with Patrick Mahomes’ rehabilitation progress following his knee operation.
The quarterback suffered torn ACL and LCL injuries in his left knee on December 14th and has stated his aim is returning by the first week of the season. Kansas City will face Denver at home during Monday Night Football on September 14th to kick off the season, followed by a Sunday night home matchup against Indianapolis in Week 2.
“We didn’t know anything more than anyone else,” NFL executive Hans Schroeder stated on Friday.
Head coach Andy Reid mentioned on NFL Network Friday that league officials never consulted him regarding Mahomes’ condition, though he feels optimistic about what he’s observed during early offseason activities.
“He’s doing great right now and that’s kind of how you gotta go about this,” Reid stated. “People go ‘well, he’s ahead of schedule.’ Who made the schedule? Everybody’s different, let’s just take it day by day. Nobody is spending more time than he is rehabbing, he spends seven hours here going through it. He hasn’t missed a day and he wants more, all the things that are Patrick Mahomes. Let’s see where we are at as we go forward as we get a little bit closer to the game.”
Schroeder expressed enthusiasm about Reid’s remarks and noted that Kansas City continues drawing interest from television networks, evidenced by their six evening games, including a Thanksgiving night clash with Buffalo that typically ranks among the season’s most anticipated contests.
Kansas City, which finished 6-11 and failed to reach the playoffs last year after three consecutive Super Bowl appearances, also received five additional slots in the prominent late Sunday afternoon doubleheader time period.
“The Chiefs are an incredible story,” Schroeder said. “They’re one of the most popular teams in the league right now. They’ve been on an incredibly successful run for a number of years now, and have built a hugely popular fan base. We went into the year planning to play the Chiefs in the same number of windows. We didn’t know anything more than then you did, but we’re certainly hoping Patrick would be back Week 1. … We felt really good about it and certainly feel better after seeing Andy’s comments this morning with how Patrick’s rehab’s going.”
Due to Labor Day occurring later this year and the NFL’s desire to host a Week 1 contest in Australia, the season opener was shifted to Wednesday for only the second occurrence in league history.
This scheduling change might become more common.
The league revealed a new Netflix partnership extending through 2029 that ensures the streaming service gets a Week 1 game alongside NBC’s traditional opener featuring the defending Super Bowl champions. Schroeder indicated this could result in more Wednesday season starts.
The 2026 campaign begins Wednesday September 9th with Seattle hosting New England on NBC, followed by a Netflix game the following evening in the United States between Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco. That contest will start Friday morning in Australia.
“I think you’ll see us certainly playing on a couple nights, weekday nights to start the year going forward,” Schroeder said.
The NFL held an international game during Week 1 on Friday evening the past two seasons but cannot schedule another Friday night Week 1 game until 2029 due to the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961, which prevents the league from televising games on Friday nights beginning the second Friday in September. Week 1’s Friday will again fall on the second Friday of September in both 2027 and 2028.
The only previous instance of an NFL season starting on Wednesday occurred in 2012 when Dallas traveled to New York Giants. That game moved from its typical Thursday slot because President Barack Obama was scheduled to address the Democratic National Convention that evening.
The Australian opener created significant travel demands for both San Francisco and Los Angeles.
San Francisco will establish a record this season with approximately 38,000 miles of travel due to the distant opener and a “home” contest in Mexico City during Week 11 against Minnesota. Los Angeles follows closely with roughly 35,000 miles of travel this upcoming season.
Both teams return home Friday September 11th, providing some additional preparation time before Week 2. The Rams receive an extra day since they’ll host a Monday night game against New York Giants before consecutive road trips to Denver and Philadelphia.
San Francisco coach Kyle Shanahan openly criticized the extensive travel during league meetings earlier this offseason, and general manager John Lynch said the NFL would provide some accommodations.
San Francisco will play three consecutive home games after the Week 1 journey and won’t leave the Pacific Time Zone again until visiting Atlanta in Week 7. The team also avoided games on both Thanksgiving and Christmas after playing both holidays in 2023.
“I’m sure wave a magic wand, they would move a game or two on their schedule,” NFL VP of broadcast planning Mike North said. “But I assume the same is true for the other 31 teams as well. We were sensitive, we were cognizant, and think we landed in a fair place, not just for the Niners and the Rams, but hopefully for everybody.”
The era of every NFL franchise receiving a guaranteed primetime game has ended, with five teams failing to secure games in those prominent windows this season.
Tennessee, Miami, Arizona, Las Vegas Raiders and New York Jets all received no primetime games in the initial schedule. These teams rank among the bottom six in Super Bowl odds this season after Miami won seven games last year and the other four finished 3-14.
Unless one of these teams gets moved into a primetime slot late in the season, this would mark the first time since 2011 that five teams received no primetime games.
None of these five teams received an isolated game in another window either.
Even adding Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback and top overall draft pick Fernando Mendoza wasn’t sufficient to earn the Raiders a primetime slot.
This represents the second consecutive season where the team selecting a quarterback first overall didn’t receive primetime games, with Tennessee getting none last season after choosing Cam Ward first overall.
“Not to be flippant, but we don’t draft our way into primetime. We play our way into primetime,” North said.
Rest disparity concerns have gained significant attention recently, though the NFL maintains its data shows the focus is excessive.
This season features notable extremes with both Los Angeles Chargers and Philadelphia facing four games against teams coming off bye weeks, while 14 teams don’t encounter this situation once. The Raiders and Los Angeles Rams each have three games against teams following a bye.
The Chargers will have 22 fewer rest days than their opponents this season, the largest gap since the 2012 Eagles at minus-23, according to ESPN.
“Rest disparity is not a thing,” North said. “You do not have a competitive advantage when you’re coming off your bye. You certainly don’t have a competitive advantage when you’re one day or two day or three days more well rested. If that data suggests that there’s a there, we will adjust.”
