Editor's note: This story is a part of a series by USA TODAY Sports called Project: June. We will publish at least one NFL-themed story every day throughout the month because fans know the league truly never sleeps.
It's a legitimate shame that Aaron Rodgers waited so long to sign with the Pittsburgh Steelers – for no other reason than the entire country won’t get to see him face his most recent team, the New York Jets, on a prime-time stage during the 2025 NFL season.
Naturally, reunion/revenge games – apply your label of choice – are typically fun, and the league did slot Rodgers’ first matchup with his original team, the Green Bay Packers, into the “Sunday Night Football” window in Week 8. Yet nearly three years removed from his final appearance with the Pack, that contest could be more reunion adjacent.
But the Jets? The team that summarily cut Rodgers, according to him, after he flew across the country for what turned out to be a very brief sit-down with new head coach Aaron Glenn in February? Not only will that Week 1 meeting be saturated in spice following the failed Rodgers experiment in New York, it will also provide the initial exit polling of who won what will wind up being a de facto trade of quarterbacks after the NYJ signed Justin Fields, Pittsburgh’s opening day starter in 2024 and a player the Steelers tried to bring back this year, per reports.
