NFL schedule makers told the Jets what the league thinks of them: Not much

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That came a year after they had five primetime games, when the NFL was trying to capitalize on the excitement of Aaron Rodgers’ arrival. “The owe us one” — which angered Jets fans and people in their building — was a reference to Rodgers tearing his Achilles four plays into the season, rendering those four other primetime games much less appealing. That 2024 slate also included three games in the first 11 days. The Jets started 2-1, fell apart, Robert Saleh was fired and the franchise was thrown into disarray. That wasn’t because of the schedule, but it didn’t help. It’s 2026, and the Jets made scheduling history again, or at least franchise history: They are not scheduled to participate in a single primetime game this season. (The only two games after 1 p.m. Eastern are at 4:05 p.m. at the Chargers and at Arizona.) It’s the first time since 2007 that the Jets weren’t pegged for primetime, and they’re joining four other teams without a primetime game, all of them viewed as likely bottom dwellers (Titans, Raiders, Dolphins and Cardinals). Perhaps fittingly, New York will face all four of those teams this season too. Damned if you have expectations; damned if you don’t. One benefit: Head coach Aaron Glenn prefers to “move in silence,” and the Jets won’t find themselves on a national broadcast at any point this season. It will allow them to succeed, or suffer, in silence. And playing at 1 p.m. isn’t necessarily a bad outcome — ask the players, they’ll love it — but there are some other issues with the schedule that make it clear the NFL wasn’t going to do anything to make it work in the Jets’ favor. Three of their first four games are on the road, and three of those are against NFC North teams expected to contend for the playoffs: vs. the Packers in Week 2, at Detroit in Week 3 and at Chicago in Week 4. They open the season in Nashville against Robert Saleh’s Titans — a game that feels as “must-win” as a Week 1 game can. From Weeks 2 through 6, the Jets will face four teams that finished with a winning record in 2025 — though that doesn’t guarantee anything in 2026. Even worse: The Jets’ bye week isn’t until Week 13, and the four-game stretch leading into the bye is unrelenting: another three-road-games-in-four-weeks stretch at the Chiefs in Week 9, Chargers in Week 11 and Dolphins in Week 12, with a home game against the AFC East-favorite Bills in Week 10. They also will end the season on the road (at Buffalo) in Week 18, as they have in all but one season in the last 10 years (2024). Outside of Weeks 5 to 9, a stretch in which four of the Jets’ five opponents held losing records in 2025, it’s a daunting schedule. The Jets also own the fourth-worst rest disparity in the NFL (minus-9), meaning their opponents have a combined nine days more of rest before playing the Jets, which includes two teams coming off bye weeks (14 days of rest) and two coming out of a Thursday night game (10 days of rest). The NFL, with this slate, is telling the Jets what they think of them. In short: Not much. “You get respect in this league by winning,” Glenn said at the NFL Combine in February. “When you do that, there’s certain narratives that just really change. I think there’s a narrative about his team. I think there’s a narrative about me, about our general manager, about Woody (Johnson) that really needs to change.” Glenn was speaking of the perception around the Jets’ owner in that comment, but it could apply to most things regarding this franchise’s reputation. Until or unless they win, they will never get the benefit of the doubt, they will be the butt of every joke, and the NFL won’t make things easier for them. The Jets, for example, volunteered to play in Germany for their road game against the Lions; the NFL picked the Patriots instead. The Jets also were hoping to have the Cardinals and Rams road games back-to-back so it would allow them to remain out West for the week instead of flying back and forth; they didn’t get that either. On Friday, North was asked about the Jets and their lack of primetime games. The gist of his response: They can play their way into some primetime games — or even a late-window Sunday game — if they aren’t as bad as we expect. “The crystal ball isn’t always as clear as we hope,” North said. Sometimes the teams we think are going to be competitive aren’t, quarterbacks get hurt, and it’s an even-steven league. It’s a zero-sum project. If somebody is down, it just means somebody else is up.” Alas, here the Jets are, back at the bottom of the totem pole, familiar territory. Nobody believes in them. Nobody believes in Glenn. And so, as always, it is on them to prove everyone wrong. This is the time of the year to air all complaints about the schedule. Any pity from the fan base dies down when the season starts — at that point, what day, what time, or how often your team is playing is no longer an excuse. It’s wins or losses. For the Jets, this season, it might be more about the margin of defeat than how many wins they earn. Still, the schedule is not set up to make life easier for a coach who is already under so much pressure. The Jets had a relatively normal schedule last year: two home games to start, back-to-back road games in Florida, two home games sandwiching a trip to London and a bye week in Week 9. But that didn’t matter. They started 0-7. The potential they showed in Week 1 against the Steelers withered away with each loss. A promising stretch in the middle of the season — three wins in five games — couldn’t overshadow a miserable season-ending five-game losing streak. So Glenn went 3-14, with some embarrassing coaching moments mixed in. He is a defensive coach whose defense couldn’t muster a single interception, and whose $40 million quarterback investment — general manager Darren Mougey deserves blame for the Justin Fields signing too — flopped. Glenn fired half his coaching staff, replaced two of his coordinators and took over defensive play-calling. The target is squarely on his back, even as there’s an understanding internally — all the way to the top — that this is a multi-year plan. The Jets understand this is a rebuilding year. The goal is to display competence, to get through a season without looking like a laughingstock and to show progress and promise going into a crucial 2027 season. Four months before the regular season kicks off, there is already a debate among the Jets’ fanbase. Some want the Jets to win, while others want them to lose to get better draft capital. There will be other rooting interests too — they’ll get the Colts’ first-round pick and the better of the Packers’ or Cowboys’ first-rounders. Glenn will get this season to show he’s the right head coach to shepherd this organization into the next part of this rebuild. The NFL stacked the schedule against him. The reality: Nobody will care once the season starts. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms