The Packers' 2024 schedule is weirder than you think

The NFL released the full 2024 schedule on Wednesday, and the Packers' slate features more than a few oddities.

The annual pomp and circumstance manufactured for the equivalent of a calendar release finally arrived Wednesday evening when the NFL unveiled the official 2024 schedule.

As has become an annual tradition, seemingly every sportswriter breathlessly "analyzed" the order of the games and the related travel logistics for their team coverage. This, of course, ignores that any fan who actually cares enough to check a schedule for games that take place five or more months in the future can decipher that information without assistance.

For anyone who didn't tune in for the schedule release, here is the Green Bay Packers' schedule for the 2024 regular season:

As a reader of The Leap, most of the big details will already stand out to you. So, rather than simply recite what this highly invested audience already knows, this edition of the newsletter will instead focus on the weird (but not necessarily less important) quirks of the schedule.

A year after networks got protection for a potential Jordan Love flop, the Packers' QB has emerged as a national draw

When the NFL revealed the 2023 schedule last May, The Leap noted that the networks received protection in the event that Jordan Love flopped in his first year as a full-time starting quarterback. After a few exclusive-window matchups set early in the season before the novelty of watching Aaron Rodgers' successor could have worn off, the Packers didn't have another prime-time game until a Week 13 appearance on Sunday Night Football. Conveniently, that particular week marked the earliest point at which the league could flex teams in or out of that time slot.

This time around, the NFL (and the networks by extension) seem far less worried about Love captivating a national audience. From Weeks 12 to 16, the Packers will play exclusively in prime-time slots and national windows, covering every major network in the process. While the league can technically flex some of those matchups, stacking so many in a row sets up a logistical nightmare for rescheduling.

Put differently, the stakeholders don't anticipate moving those games, a vote of confidence for Love and Green Bay.