Jets, Aaron Rodgers Set For Week 1 Grudge Match After Steelers Decision

It's all going down on Sept. 7

Jan 5, 2025; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers (8) walks on the field after the Jets win over the Miami Dolphins at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-Imagn Images | Ed Mulholland-Imagn Images

The NFL schedule-makers sure knew what they were doing this season.

Former New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers took until Thursday to make his long-awaited free agency decision. He's signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers, the only team that gave him serious consideration for the last month and a half, if not longer.

It's been nearly three months since the Jets signed ex-Steeler Justin Fields to be their new starting quarterback. They've moved on from Rodgers, who aired out some of the dirty laundry about how head coach Aaron Glenn told him he'd be released during an April appearance on the Pat McAfee Show.

So where will Rodgers head for his first game under center for the Steelers? It's MetLife Stadium, of course, for a Sept. 7 showdown with the Jets.

The schedule has been out for three weeks now, but the writing was on the wall much longer that Rodgers was probably heading to the Steelers. Thursday seemed like an odd day to finally make the call, but Pittsburgh does open mandatory minicamp next week.

Last season, Rodgers and the Jets faced the Steelers in October, just after the QB seemingly strong-armed a trade for wideout Davante Adams, and in the first game Fields was replaced as the starter by Russell Wilson. Pittsburgh walloped New York, 37-15.

Not only will Rodgers face the Jets this year, but he'll also face the team with whom he won his four Most Valuable Player awards, the Green Bay Packers, in Week 8. Plus, he'll face all three of his old NFC North rivals.

The Jets-Steelers matchup won't be in primetime; it's a 1:00 EST kickoff on CBS. But there will be millions of eyeballs tuned in to see Rodgers and Fields both try and exact their revenge on their former teams.

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