Never doubt the power and the glory of The Shield.
If there is a way for the NFL to generate more offseason attention, it will identify it. And now the folks at 345 Park Avenue are no longer satisfied with the annual schedule reveal being a one-day event. No, it’s going to last two whole weeks now.
Here is the NFL’s schedule to, uh, reveal the schedule:
April 28: The first Thursday Night Football game on Amazon Prime — which is the Week 2 game — will be announced during the first round of the NFL Draft.
May 4: The five international games this season — three in London, one in Mexico City and Munich — will be revealed.
May 9-11: “Select” games will be rolled out.
May 12: Teams announce their home openers at 6 p.m. ET, with the entire schedule coming out at 8 p.m. ET during an NFL Network special.
Remember, every NFL team knows all 17 of its opponents already. With the exception of the international games — which are narrowed down but still carry some suspense — all anyone is waiting for is dates and times. Yet the NFL is going to drag this whole thing out and captivate an entire nation while doing so. What a world.
The best NFL schedule reveal day ever was in 2017 when Mike Francesa just read the entire Giants schedule on his show hours before it was supposed to be released. WFAN presumably had an internal copy as the team’s flagship station, it landed on the big guy’s desk and boom, he’s breaking news. He also ripped the Jets for not getting him their schedule in a timely fashion, completely oblivious to the fact he wasn’t supposed to have to yet.
The Giants have a shot at hopping across the pond for the first time since 2016. They are scheduled to play road games against the Packers and Jaguars, who are confirmed for London this fall. The Jets also have a road date with the Packers, but they played in London last season and likely won’t get sent back that soon.
