The NFL did football fans a favor in 2024. It didn’t include a single Carolina Panthers game in its primetime schedule.
While that could change thanks to the league’s flex rules late in the season, odds remain high we won’t see 2023’s worst team on Thursday, Sunday or Monday night. We will, however, get six games featuring the league’s worst offense after dark.
The New York Jets and an ostensibly healthy Aaron Rodgers will have six primetime games in 2024, as many as the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers at the top of the rankings. This is a move that could make sense — a four-time MVP leading a team from the league’s biggest market back to prominence alongside a smothering defense. It’s also one that could backfire entirely; a 40-year-old quarterback coming off a torn Achilles who is perpetually as liable to make headlines for saying something stupid off the field as doing something great on it.
The Jets make an appearance or two here on our list of 2024’s worst primetime games. These are the showdowns that, on paper, provide compelling evidence for an early bedtime. They might not turn out that way; last year’s Tennessee Titans-Miami Dolphins Monday night matchup looked like a “sim to finish” kind of game at first glance and instead saw 32 fourth quarter points in a wild Tennessee comeback. But, knowing what we know, these are the 10 least essential night games of 2024.
