Colin Cowherd Podcast - NFL’s Toughest Schedules, Expectations For Aaron Rodgers? Expanded College Football Playoff

This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed Human. What’s up, y’all? Summer’s got a different tempo.

Let’s talk football and the schedule game. The league can nudge teams it does not love, and I’ve seen that play out before, so did the Niners and Kyle get a little slap with travel and rest?

Belichick fought the league office for years, and Kyle’s cut from that cloth, so I get why he’s loud about Australia. Expansion creates winners and losers; the Rams lobbied for the Niners there, and while the Monday night tradeoff is debatable, the bigger takeaway is a lot of coaches are furious even if only a few say it out loud.

I’ll defend going global. You either grow or get eaten, and the NFL’s overseas push is smart; the same way a bigger college playoff grew interest, this builds the pie.

San Francisco actually wants Mexico City; that fits their fan base. Australia’s a different beast with a brutal time zone and a sixteen-hour haul, so logistics matter.

I’ve never been, but friends tell me it’s basically coastal California with a longer flight, and if I were a player opening in Australia or Brazil, I’d probably think it’s cool.

Players adapt way faster than coaches think. In L.A., the Rams are bigger nationally than locally because the Lakers and Dodgers own the city’s soul.

Historically the Raiders felt like L.A., and the Rams felt like Orange County. On schedules, people say Chicago has the hardest, but Kansas City’s six straight against top quarterbacks looks nastier, and Chicago’s draw actually sets up fine with swing games at home.

Divisional rotations explain a lot, and the Bears finally have confidence against Green Bay. I’m not buying the New York–D.C. primetime love, and I’m skeptical of Minnesota’s unsettled quarterback plan and their hedge with a veteran deal; I’m betting against them.

I’m rooting for the talented lightning-rod quarterback to rebound, even if the ceiling’s capped; that division is always a little strange.

New England’s slate is just brutal, starting in that Seattle cauldron. The Jets were a punchline but the roster’s not bad, and they’ll be more competitive.

Aaron Rodgers to the Steelers mirrors Favre late in his career, but when you get older you have to be all-in and play through pain; post-injury, that’s a bigger ask. What kind of season does he have?

Brady’s last Bucs group had more high-end youth than this Pittsburgh roster, and Favre walked into a loaded Minnesota. Given Rodgers’s recent injuries and the Steelers’ pieces, I’m cautious on durability and upside.

Let’s not rewrite history: Rodgers and McCarthy clashed hard by the end, and it showed on the field. They’re very different personalities, and it was not kumbaya.

Time softens edges, but the play-caller–quarterback grind is intense. The brand pressure is real in Pittsburgh, he got his raise, and odds say at his age it looks like last year or worse.

Given the Rooney runway, the staff can smile for cameras while planning for life after a one-year star; if I were coaching, I’d want to see the young guys, too.

They will not tear it down, and that likely lands them in the eight or nine win pocket again. With an aging quarterback behind a line in flux, health is the bet you do not want to make.

On college football, the ending has always been messy, so a bigger playoff does not scare me; regular season juice will survive because rivalries live on. More bids mean fewer ducked games and more meaningful December football for brands like Notre Dame.

If we expand, kill the cupcakes and start immediately at campus sites with no long breaks; fans and TV love those environments. Conference title games will need a rethink if we go big.

If a program survives only by cashing blowout checks, maybe it should not field that sport.

The Title Nine and non-revenue reality is coming; expect more cuts and club-level moves as the money centralizes.

Streaming fragmentation is annoying, but the audience follows big games, and Thursday nights have become a win for talk shows and fans. Amazon’s slate is strong and consistently delivers a topic the next morning.

The Amazon crew is polished and the click is easy, so it feels like true appointment viewing now.

They were loose early but found their footing by year two, and right now I prefer their sports product to Netflix.

Thursday wins feel huge on short rest with stars on set, and the league finally leans into rivalries and sane flights.

Not everyone deserves primetime, and the holiday and international slates look like headliners. The league has gotten sharper with the grid.

I’m rooting for the NFL to keep growing; midweek and holiday games will be on in every living room.

Writers love the past, but fans pay for live now, and sports are the only sure thing on TV; the NFL will remain king.

Football’s weekly cadence fits streaming and short attention spans, so you can drop a playoff game on a streamer and people show. Meanwhile, the NBA juggles overlapping windows because networks chase their own prime slots.

The league plans ahead with partners, and some Thursday games now outshine Sunday night, which might hint at NBC’s future.

Amazon could end up with Thursday and Sunday nights next cycle, while Netflix sticks to specials; Amazon has the scale to do it.

I do not see the NFL undercutting Fox; that bond is deep and the product is excellent. NBC may bleed on the NBA build-out while Amazon just writes the check.

Prime-time rights have rotated for decades, and the way the schedule looks, I’d bet Sunday night migrates to Amazon while Fox and CBS hold the Sunday windows.

John Middletoff from Three and Out. Good to see you, buddy. The Volume.